Scent Of My Heart
by dusk-pixie
Summary: When a situation at work leads Sasuke to bring home Naruto, a fox hybrid who has a thing for his scent, what will ensue? Explicit adult content; hybrid!Naruto; yaoi  malexmale ; kemonomimi; mature; lemon; au; rated MA
1. Chapter 1

**Description**: When a situation leads Sasuke to bring home Naruto, a fox hybrid who has a thing for his scent, what will ensue?

**Pairing/s**: SasuNaru/NaruSasu

**Warnings**: Explicit adult content; hybrid!Naruto; yaoi (malexmale); rated MA. If this will offend you, do not read.

**Disclaimer**: The _Naruto_ world belongs to Kishimoto. I do not make a profit from this FanFic.

x-x-x-x-x

Scent Of My Heart – Part 1/2

Sasuke sighed and let his head fall forward onto the desk, trying to wish away the beginnings of a nasty headache. At twenty-seven, he had been extremely successful and was currently vice president of Always Classy Entertainment (ACE) Management. From the outside, ACE appeared to be a reputable organisation hired by the wealthy to plan extremely high-class and exclusive events – which they did, and did well. This, however, was not always the reason they were hired. More often than not, ACE was hired to clean-up when things went wrong for the rich and powerful.

His older brother, Itachi, was president. He had taken over when their parents retired; indeed, he had been groomed for the position. Sasuke, on the other hand, finished high-school and made his own decision to join the ranks of the family business. He started at the bottom, as an apprentice, and had impressed everyone by progressing to the role of vice president within four years. It wasn't like he particularly liked or disliked his job, but it beat unemployment and he lived a comfortable lifestyle.

Riiing. Riiing.

The phone on his desk began to ring and Sasuke glared at it. It was 8.45pm on a Friday night. A call this late on a Friday usually meant that there had been or were some problems with a current job. A call to _him_ on a Friday night meant that the problems were pretty bad. He hit the loudspeaker button, and said, "Uchiha. Problem?"

There was a pause. "Hello, Mr Uchiha, sir. This is Shino Aburame. I'm one of the ACE team leaders. We have trouble." See? He knew it wasn't something good. "Basically, tonight was supposed to be a straightforward job. Hyuga family celebrating Neji Hyuga's twenty-first birthday. As organised with us, a ball was held, followed by a secondary party with light entertainment. Apparently, they didn't think the entertainment we were providing was exciting enough and hired another party," Shino said unhappily.

Sasuke swore quietly. Their jobs became harder when the clients didn't disclose information like this. "So who did they bring in? Obviously it's bad if you're calling the VP. Do I need to come down?"

"Uh, yeah, you should come down – we're at the main Hyuga banquet hall. It's pretty bad. Illegal entertainment bad. They hired Akatsuki Entertainment to organise some events that only the privileged can afford. Think hybrids."

Sasuke swore again before pausing to collect his thoughts. "Okay, okay. I'll be there in twenty minutes or so. Can you call the company lawyers? If this pulls us into court, we need to be ready." After trading a few more details, Sasuke phoned his driver, grabbed his jacket and headed for the elevator down to the parking garage. Usually, Itachi took care of these matters, but he was currently overseas on a business trip that looked like it would ensure the successful expansion of ACE to an overseas market, so it was left to Sasuke to deal with the problem.

This was going to be nasty. Akatsuki Entertainment was well known for their use of illegal entertainment, but was rarely around to be held accountable by the time the cops got involved. If ACE was seen to be connected with this it would be potentially damaging to their reputation, which would be extremely bad considering the high class clientele usually employing them for their discretion. Although they were usually employed to clean up after scandals amongst the rich and famous, offenses such as covering up the maltreatment of hybrids or illegal acts involving hybrids was punishable by prison time. As Sasuke's driver navigated the roads to the Hyuga Estate, Sasuke contemplated the involvement of the hybrids.

Fifty years ago, a scientist had been conducting some illegal experiments based in genetic engineering. Most of his experiments involved attempting to combine animal and human DNA. No-one was quite sure of his reasons, but the most popular reason cited was that he was trying to create a vaccine that would alter foetuses so that their bodies were unreceptive to human disease and therefore immune, while retaining their immunity to animal diseases. The results, at first, had been considered abominations. Although hybrid children look human for the most part, there were often animal features as well an increase in strength or agility or other such characteristics.

The doctor was arrested and taken to court, but late in the proceedings an anonymous source paid for an expensive attorney, and within weeks a spin had been put on the media stories so that the experiment was now considered a positive. Within five years, the act of creating hybrids, purchasing them from the self-proclaimed hybrid agencies and raising them as pets, servants or lovers had become a novelty amongst the rich which continued until now. The hybrids were not considered human, so they weren't afforded all the same rights, but neither were they considered animals. It was a controversial area, to say the least.

When he reached the Hyuga banquet hall, Sasuke was dismayed to find the place trashed. There were chairs, food, and broken plates and glasses littering the floor. Table cloths and curtains had been ripped and wrenched from their hangers, a couple of the very few remaining guests' sported cuts and bruises. Sasuke kneaded his forehead with his knuckles. This was not going to be an easy situation to deal with and his headache was getting worse.

"Mr Uchiha!"

Sasuke turned, recognising the voice from the phone. A young man wearing a crisply ironed white shirt, beneath an expensive tailored suit approached him. This was the usual uniform for ACE employees. The dark glasses and earpiece also indicated that he was on one of the specialised teams used for important events, when remaining in contact with other staff members was vital. The young man held out a hand and there was only a brief hesitation before Sasuke shook it.

"Shino Aburame, I presume? So, what's the situation exactly? I'm seeing a lot of chaos here, and the fact that there are injured people wandering around…it's not a good sign." Sasuke expected a succinct answer and was rewarded right away.

"Hybrid animal fight," Shino said, distaste written all over his face. Sasuke took a deep breath and closed his eyes, gritting his teeth against the torrent of expletives running through his mind. Hybrid fighting was a recent fad. An illegal fad. Rich patrons would employ a hybrid agency to supply them with adult hybrids, which would then be put in a ring to fight one another for the entertainment of party-goers.

If a hybrid was lucky, their motivations for fighting were rewards such as a day of freedom in the city, money or other luxury items. On the other hand, if a hybrid was unlucky, their motivations to fight were to avoid beatings, starvation and other cruel punishments. Hybrid fighting rings were currently a highly prosecutable offense.

"So, what exactly happened at the fight to cause this," Sasuke waved a hand to encompass all of the disorder in the room, "extremely undesirable situation?"

"One of the hybrids, a fox hybrid I think, he…objected to being forced to fight. The moment they unlocked and opened the door to the room he was being kept in, he leapt out, ignoring the other hybrid, and attacked the people in the crowd. It pretty much caused a riot as guests tried to escape the rampaging hybrid. Eventually, two or three of the male guests grabbed the ornamental spears from the Eastern Martial Arts display case against the back wall, and managed to drive him back into the lockable warm-up room. I figured this was a problem for the higher ups in ACE and called the office straight away, and they put me through to you."

"I see," Sasuke said slowly, the crease between his eyebrows deepening as he contemplated the problem. "So, two questions. Where are the people from Akatsuki Entertainment and where are the hybrids from tonight's fight?"

"Uh, the people from AE, packed and bolted as soon as things started to go wrong, and they left _all_ eight hybrids here for other people to deal with. The Hyuga family is willing to pay us to clean up this mess, but we only have a three hour window before the police arrive – the Hyuga family is using their resources to delay the police response. Do we take them up on it?"

"Yes, but I'm going to charge them four times the original fee and have them sign a document that states that our involvement with the situation began only after the hybrid incident. They don't sign, we pack up and leave them to deal with the consequences. Rich, arrogant fools," he said, muttering the last part. Shino looked slightly awed. ACE wasn't cheap and an increase of that much in the fee would roughly equal a total fee of two million dollars.

Within half an hour, the statement was signed as was a very large cheque and the ACE team began an emergency clean up. An hour and a half later, the room was spotless, as if nothing more than a normal social event had occurred. All signs of violence and destruction had been repaired, removed or hidden. With an hour left, all that was left to do was deal with the hybrids. Glancing around at the staff, Sasuke weighed his options before calling them into a meeting.

"Okay. The only solution that I can come up with is that since there are eight of us, each one of us takes home one of the hybrids. Once at home, you can either keep the hybrid with you or find a new agency to give them to, though not Akatsuki. You have half an hour to talk to them and to decide who will take home whom." Everyone looked taken aback for a second before they saw the advantage in the suggestion and nodded before moving over to the pack of hybrids that were huddling in the caravan they'd been brought to the party in.

Sasuke had no intention of keeping the hybrid he took home. The only reason he had allowed the members of the team to take a hybrid in was that each had gone through detailed tests to prove their good natures, honesty and to make sure their ethical standards matched those of the company. Also, ACE paid extremely well, so the staff were likely to be under no financial pressure even with a hybrid staying with them.

After settling a female ladybird hybrid into his car, Shino returned to speak one final time to Sasuke. "We've all picked a hybrid to take home and shelter…but the only one left for you to take is the violent one who attacked the guests before." Sasuke's eyebrows jumped as he realised that not only was he lumped with the violent fox hybrid; it was still locked in the warm-up room. Finally, recognising that there was no other option, he gave a brief, dismissive nod to Shino before heading inside.

All the guests had left by this point, and the only remaining people were the Hyuga's butlers who had been assigned to lock up the hall and wait for the police once the ACE people cleared out. Sasuke headed straight for the locked warm-up room and pressed his ear to the door, trying to hear whether the Fox hybrid was still moving about. Sasuke almost jumped out of his skin when a voice on the other side of the door began to speak. The voice was low and mellow, strangely relaxing.

"You know, I can hear you. I have extremely good hearing. I heard you cross the room."

"Uh…okay. Well, everyone else is gone. You're coming home with me, for the next few days at least, until some other arrangements are made." Sasuke listened carefully for a reply.

After a moment of silence, the hybrid finally replied. "And if I refuse to come peacefully?" Sasuke glared at the door. He didn't want to have to fight the hybrid on this. It was after midnight, it had been a long day and his headache was raging fiercely.

"If you refuse to come, I'll let the Hyugas sort out what to do with you, and then I'll go home, pop a couple of ibuprofen and sleep like a rock." Sasuke had no patience for games tonight. After an even longer period of silence, Sasuke finally gave up and turned to leave. He'd never personally interacted with a hybrid, though he'd seen them in the streets before. Maybe they were just difficult like this…after all, they were part animal, correct?

"Fine. I'll come. You at least smell different to the rich crowd today anyway. You can't be any worse than those bastards." Sighing wearily, Sasuke unlocked the door and cautiously opened it. He was surprised at the appearance of the hybrid that stood before him. Around twenty years of age, he stood only an inch or so shorter than Sasuke who was five foot eleven, and he was completely Sasuke's type.

The man before him wore nothing but a shabby pair of beige cargo pants. His hair was an interesting combination of golden blonde and auburn. Instead of human ears, two fox ears, tipped with black, were high on the hybrid's head adding to the illusion of height. His irises were blue with reddish brown flecks, and there were a few long whiskers sprouting from high cheekbones.

Slightly longer than normal canine teeth could be seen between his parted lips and his fingers were slightly off shape-wise, tipped with short, thick nails that looked more like claws. The final attribute marking him as hybrid was the bushy tail hanging behind him. It was long, proportionate to his body, and the white tip almost brushed the ground behind him. His lightly muscled body was tight, firm and tanned, and before he could banish it from his mind, Sasuke thought, _I can see why people take hybrids as bed partners. He's kind of…beautiful, in some strange way._

Finally realising he was staring, Sasuke snapped himself out of it. Motioning for the hybrid to follow him, Sasuke headed to his car where the driver was waiting to take him home. The hybrid looked slightly suspicious and uncomfortable in the close confines of the car. Sasuke took the opportunity to study him further. He noticed with disgust that a heavy iron shackle had been welded shut around the Fox hybrid's ankle, and the blue eyes with red flecks scanned the car warily, waiting for more trouble. Feeling the focus of the raven haired man's gaze, the returned the look and broke the silence.

"Naruto."

Sasuke started. "Huh?"

"My name. Naruto." He lifted an eyebrow, awaiting some kind of response. The two men stared at each other in silence for a moment.

"Ah. Sasuke Uchiha," said Sasuke, finally replying. "So, why do you have a shackle around your ankle? I don't remember seeing one on any of the other hybrids tonight." A vicious, satisfied smile crossed Naruto's face.

"That's because of Kabuto – the employee from AE who was organising this 'event'," he scoffed. "He knew that if I ever got close enough to him, I would have ripped his throat out with my teeth."

"Erm…" Sasuke was taken aback. That was very violent and very specific. He glanced around at the doors and realised that he was pretty much trapped back here with a potentially murderous hybrid with very long, pointy canine teeth.

Naruto gave a wry smile emphasising the aforementioned canines. "I've scared you. I'm not planning to attack you at the moment, if that's what you're worried about."

"I never said-" Sasuke started.

"You didn't have to," Naruto interrupted, wrinkling his nose. "I can smell it." Sasuke stared at the hybrid, before settling back into his seat.

"So you don't plan on attacking me. Hn. I guess that's good news then. Other than the fact that he was forcing you to fight, are there any other reasons why you would attack him and not me or the other hybrids? You also attacked the crowd in there… Not confidence inspiring."

"First of all, I'm guessing you don't know much about the hybrid…species. Just like with animals – which we are not – your blend can determine how strong or weak you are and how many non-human characteristics you get. Take me, for example, I'm considered a bad example of a hybrid. Too much fox; tends to freak people out. Then there are some like Hinata. She has ladybird in her, and it's enough to be cute without being creepy. Interesting fact, take a look at her and you will notice she has some Hyuga in her too. Not that they'll own up to it, of course."

Sasuke looked surprised, then calculating. This was some information to be tucked away for later, should the Hyuga's try to cause trouble. While it was perfectly acceptable to own a hybrid, or have one created for you, the elite using their own DNA was highly unusual and socially frowned upon. It ruined the 'purity' of the bloodline. Sasuke realised that the conversation had lapsed into silence. "Ah…so what does that have to do with the fighting?"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "I would have thought that would be obvious. In the wild, who would win – a ladybird or a fox? Well, the same applies here. I gain power from my fox, while Hinata gains grace and other elements of a ladybird. Asking me to fight Hinata is like leading an innocent sheep to be slaughtered. I won't attack my kin, especially those who can't protect themselves. And as for the crowd, those rich bastards brought us here to fight for their entertainment. I simply decided to fight them. And anyway, you should know, I only attacked those who had a chance of fighting back against me."

Sasuke replayed the scene from earlier that night in his head and realised that the fox hybrid was telling the truth. All the people who were attacked were men and women who had possessed the physical strength to fight back. Naruto, he noticed was starting to look a little tired and pale. It had been a long night after all, he thought.

They settled back into silence, only the hum of the engine for noise.

x-x-x-x-x

Sasuke lived in the company dorms, though as VP he wasn't subject to the same restrictions as employees living in the dorms. Where other employees were allocated a room on a floor with other people they worked for, Sasuke owned an entire floor for himself. Once he had bought the floor with his own money, he'd had it gutted and turned into something of a penthouse suite despite it being on the twenty-first floor rather than the top floor, which was the thirty-fifth. Itachi had done a similar thing in a separate company building. Keeping some space between the brothers made life much, much easier.

In the lift on the way up to his 'apartment', as he still liked to call it, he described the basic building rules to Naruto, and included some of his own personal rules in the mix as well. Naruto just nodded, lips pressed together tight and a light sheen of sweat on his body, despite being dressed in only cargo pants.

"Okay, so this is my apartment. While you are here, you can take the guest room that is directly beside mine. There are some security devices installed here, so don't attempt to steal anything, I guarantee I'll find out. You can't leave, and you can't go to other levels and-" he stopped talking as the stepped out of the lift when the hybrid began to sway before him, before collapsing on the floor of his foyer. Sasuke crouched down, alarmed by the sudden change in the hybrid who had seemed fine back at the banquet hall.

Running his hands lightly over Naruto's chest, Sasuke frowned at the heat radiating from his skin. The hybrid clearly had a high fever. After calling for the building paramedics to come up to his apartment, Sasuke began to look for any damage that would cause this kind of reaction. As he was patting along Naruto's left leg, he felt a bumpy section around Naruto's calf. He yanked the leg of Naruto's cargo pants up.

"Well, shit," he said, looking at what had once been a white t-shirt – obviously what Naruto had been wearing prior to the fight. It had been fashioned into a rough bandage and was tightly bound around the tanned leg. Blood was beginning to seep through and Sasuke decided to apply pressure rather than take a look, at least until the paramedics had checked it first. Grabbing some tea towels, he sat waiting for another thirty seconds before the medics arrived.

They hesitated in the doorway of the lift when they realised that the patient was a hybrid. Sasuke glared at them before saying sharply, "Yes, he's a hybrid, and no, it's not contagious. Get over here and do your jobs before I have you fired."

"Yes, Mr Uchiha."

x-x-x-x-x

Smells nice. That was the first thought that entered Naruto's head when he woke up, fuzzily wondering where he was and how he'd gotten there. Opening his eyes, just a tiny amount, he found himself in a dimly lit room on a soft bed, tucked tightly beneath a heavy doona. Turning his head slightly to the right, he saw the raven haired man, Sasuke, sleeping in a chair next to the bed. He sniffed in that direction and realised that Sasuke was the nice smell. There was damp washcloth on his forehead, so obviously Sasuke had been taking care of him.

Sasuke's watch beeped, and he stirred. Naruto watched his eyes flicker open and awareness enter them. Their eyes met and Sasuke pulled the chair closer to the bed. He raised a wrist to show Naruto the watch. "It beeps every half an hour to let me know to change the washcloth, though I think your fever may have settled now."

"Ah." Now that Sasuke was a little closer to the bed, Naruto took the opportunity to study him. He still had on his suit pants, and the expensive lavender shirt was unbuttoned at the collar exposing a sliver of porcelain white skin. Jet black hair framed a face with alluring eyes so dark that they drew your attention while you were talking to him. There were dark circles beneath his eyes that depicted his weariness.

There was a moment of silence as each man regarded the other before Sasuke broke it. "Why didn't you tell me you were wounded? It was really quite stupid to leave your leg in that condition for so long."

Naruto shrugged. "It didn't really seem important at the time. Also, I heal fast normally, so I assumed that it would be fine. No need to get doctors involved," said Naruto as he looked around the room, then threw off the cover, and climbed slowly out of bed. He looked down and noted in surprise the grey sweat pants and black t-shirt he was wearing. Must be Sasuke's; it had that nice scent to it.

Sasuke frowned hard as Naruto began to walk across the room, noting distractedly that the hybrid's ability to move silently for such a big man was pretty amazing. "Oi…where are you going? My medics wanted you to rest that leg, at least for overnight, so as not to reopen the wound." Sasuke noticed Naruto's nose twitch and suppressed a smile as he asked disbelievingly, "Did…did you just scent the air?"

Naruto scowled, his cheeks stained pink. "I'm hungry. I was…I mean…sometimes I can smell food. For example, right now I can tell you that your kitchen is somewhere to the right of this bedroom, and there is something with chicken in it in your fridge," he said as his stomach growled audibly, before going on with a look of challenge in his eyes, "And if I want to get out of this bed, I will. You can't stop me."

Sasuke's eyebrows going up was the only sign that he was impressed with Naruto's sense of smell. "Well, yes, there is chicken cacciatore in the fridge from yesterday night's dinner. If you want some, I can go heat it for you." Naruto nodded in response, pleased that Sasuke wasn't arguing about whether he should stay in bed or not, and followed Sasuke to the kitchen (and much to his satisfaction it was to the right of the bedroom).

Sasuke indicated that Naruto should sit behind the big, marble island bench in the centre of the kitchen on one of the raised chairs, and crossed the room to dig the chicken cacciatore out of the fridge. After heating it in the microwave, he spooned three quarters of the dish into a bowl and set it before Naruto before tipping the remainder into a smaller bowl for himself.

They ate in silence, and Sasuke popped a couple of ibuprofen tablets to take while he was near the medicine bowl that he kept on the top shelf of the pantry. He walked around the bench to take Naruto's bowl and Naruto stiffened in his seat, once again catching a whiff of the intriguing scent that came off of Sasuke. It was like no perfume or cologne he'd ever scented before, and honestly, it was turning him on.

Sasuke, of course, payed no attention to Naruto, lost in his own world of thoughts about what would need to be done tomorrow, despite the fact that it was a weekend. Dragging himself out of his thoughts, he glanced at the clock that said it was close to 5am. Realising how late – or early – it was seemed to bring all of his tiredness crashing down on him at once and he massaged his temples with his fingertips before speaking.

"I think I need to go to bed and sleep. Tomorrow, I have to go back into the office for the day, and I probably won't be back until late evening. You'll have to stay here; you're welcome to do almost whatever you like except for leaving or going through my personal things. There's a television in the den and food in the cupboards, I think there's a spare toothbrush in the medicine cabinet in my en suite which you are welcome to grab when I've gone and you get up. I'll leave my contact numbers on a piece of paper by the phone, which you don't need to answer while I'm gone, by the way, and yeah. That's all I can think of. For now."

"Right," Naruto replied, seeing that Sasuke was completely out of energy at this point and realising that there was nothing left to say that couldn't be said in the morning. "I'll take myself to the room we came from. Thanks for calling the medics."

Sasuke let a smile tug at the corner of his mouth. "Yeah. Well." There was an awkward moment as they stood looking at each other before Sasuke finally headed for the door.

x-x-x-x-x

Naruto stretched and let out a massive yawn. Flicking off the covers that had been wrapped around him, he gracefully rolled off of the bed and padded down the hallway to the kitchen. Opening the freezer, he sniffed and sorted through the various frozen foods, finally pulling out some pizza and turning the oven on. Glancing at the clock, he was surprised to find that it was late afternoon already.

After finishing his lunch he began to explore the house, noting the absurd level of tidiness. Everything was organised and ordered, there wasn't a single thing that could be said to be out of place. Feeling bored, he began to move the couch about in the huge living area. Smiling to himself, he moved the chairs too. Within half an hour, nothing in the room was still in its original position.

Satisfied with his efforts, he walked back towards the room he thought of as 'his'. Then a cheeky grin broke out over his face. He had the whole afternoon to himself and the whole apartment to reorganise. He set to work.

Naruto inhaled deeply, and it struck him again that something about this place just smelt great. Last night it had been Sasuke's cologne, but now he wondered if perhaps it was the smell of the apartment or a cleaning product. He'd finished moving things in the house about, now it was time to find out what cologne the raven-haired man was currently using. He entered the bedroom hesitantly, and then crossed to the bathroom quickly. It felt wrong, but he reminded himself that since he had permission to get a toothbrush from here it was technically okay.

He poked through the medicine cabinet and found a few bottles of barely used cologne that were not the scent he was looking for. He found an almost empty can of antiperspirant-deodorant and a quick sniff of that proved it was also not the scent he smelt on Sasuke and in the house. Giving up the search for the scent for the time being, he took in the rest of the medicine cabinet. There were a few more bottles of over the counter ibuprofen, a new razor, a blue toothbrush and toothpaste for sensitive teeth, a still packaged green toothbrush, a small first aid kit, a few wrapped bars of soap and nail clippers.

He grabbed the green toothbrush and finished his search of the bathroom, and yet he still couldn't identify the scent. Finally deciding it wasn't in the bathroom, he walked back into the bedroom. While he had fully intended to leave the bedroom without snooping, the scent that was driving him nuts made him halt. Maybe a little snooping wouldn't hurt.

x-x-x-x-x

Sasuke sat behind his desk, reading through this month's list of outgoing expenses. He was bored. Sometimes, working behind a desk all day was almost painfully boring. Add in the fact that Sasuke was not the world's most social being, and you had someone who was bored quite often. He'd always found it hard to make friends, especially since once he became focused on something – like working at ACE – he tended to shut other people out.

Sasuke's concentration was broken when he felt his cell phone vibrate against his thigh. Welcoming the break, he dug his phone from his pocket and flipped it open. His eyebrows went up in surprise as he realised what the message was about. As he'd told Naruto earlier, there were some security devices in his apartment; this was a precaution he felt necessary when living in the company dorms. The fact that the cameras were running was nothing out of the ordinary. The text message was.

There were a few cameras located in Sasuke's bedroom, but unlike the rest of the cameras, they were only activated when someone entered the bedroom while Sasuke wasn't at home, since there were a few valuables there that he really didn't want tampered with. The system in the bedroom, once activated, sent him a message with a password that allowed him to connect with the cameras remotely so that he could check-up on his bedroom (or any other part of the house, really).

Pulling his keyboard across the table, he quickly located the security camera feeds and opened a window on the monitor showing his room from four different angles. His brow furrowed as he saw the hybrid crossing the room and entering his bathroom. Sighing, he realised that Naruto must be getting the toothbrush he'd said was in the room. Dragging himself back to the work he'd been distracted, he began again to sort through it. A few minutes later, movement on the monitor caught his attention.

Glancing up, he realised that the hybrid was still in his room. The corner of Sasuke's lip tugged up in a brief grin as he realised that Naruto was doing the scenting the air thing again, his nose twitching and toothbrush clutched in hand. Fully expecting Naruto to walk back out of his room, Sasuke was shocked when Naruto crossed the room and placed the toothbrush on his bedside table. He felt a bubble of anger swelling when the hybrid crossed to his wardrobe and yanked the doors open.

Sasuke waited for the inevitable rummaging for valuables that would occur as the fox searched for things to steal. So it was even more of a surprise when it didn't happen. Naruto stood in front of the wardrobe, nose twitching. Then he stepped up to Sasuke's clothes and…appeared to be rubbing against them? Sasuke's face was a mere two inches from the monitor as he tried to discern exactly what Naruto was doing in his wardrobe.

x-x-x-x-x

Naruto pressed his face to the jacket hanging closest to him, inhaling deeply. Just what was this scent? It was strong in the closet and much like an animal; he wanted to cover himself in it. The urge was so powerful that for a moment he lost himself in rubbing against the clothes. The only thing that brought him back to himself was the sound of the toothbrush falling off the nightstand.

Realising that Sasuke could be home at anytime, he pulled himself away from the closet and forced towards the door. At the last minute he remembered to grab the toothbrush that he'd originally come into the room for. As soon as he pass through the door, he slammed it shut, leaning against it as he inhaled some deep breaths. What the hell was wrong with him? He'd never been this caught up in a scent before.

He wandered back into the den, flopping down on the shifted couch. Fuck. Everything in this apartment smelt vaguely of that enticing scent. He made a promise to himself to behave more humanly when Sasuke was around. Rolling on the floor and chroming a person's clothes was hardly a human trait. Well, at least not a normal human.

Eyes on the clock, Naruto didn't move from the sofa for one and a half hours until he heard the pinging sound of the lift coming to a halt, and then two sets of footsteps moving into the apartment. Standing upright, he gave the air a quick sniff, easily identifying Sasuke's scent and another scent. This person had a strange odour; they smelt of metal, oil and hybrids. A very strange combination.

"Naruto?" Sasuke's voice floated from the entrance. The footsteps of both Sasuke and the stranger soon reached the den, where Naruto was standing waiting curiously. Sasuke's eyebrows twitched as he took in the room. "What the…?" he murmured. Not a single thing was where he'd left it. Looking into the next room, he could see more furniture no longer in its original place. Hmm, was this what happened when hybrids got bored?

Meanwhile, Naruto stalked across to the pretty lady in her mid forties standing silently beside Sasuke and sniffed in her direction. The woman had long blonde hair, light golden-brown eyes the colour of whisky and an impressive bosom. Sasuke watched the two of them eye each other for a moment before deciding that introducing them was the best course of action.

"Uh, Naruto, this is Tsunade. She's my mechanic…she came to help me remove that shackle from your ankle." Naruto's ears twitched with interest.

"She doesn't smell right," he stated plainly. He was rather surprised when this evoked a grin from the woman, revealing hard white teeth and slightly longer than normal pointed canines.

"So you could tell," she chuckled. "I'm a hybrid and I work with hybrids. Funnily enough, I'm what the experiment was originally aiming to create, at least appearance wise; I'm a hybrid that can mostly pass for human unless in close proximity with other hybrids, such as yourself, Fox. Nowadays, of course, the aim is to create mixes like you that are obviously hybrid. It's more…_fashionable_."

Sasuke was slightly disconcerted when Naruto moved right up to Tsunade and sniffed at her neck. It was even more disconcerting when her hand, moving in a blur, connected with Naruto's jaw and sent him reeling.

"It's not polite to get that close uninvited, Fox. At least not to people who are older and wiser than you," her tone was light, but she was looking at Naruto reproachfully as he got back to his feet.

"What _are_ you?" he asked, a slight growl rumbling in his voice.

"Human, with a dash of cougar. Couldn't you tell, Fox?" she smirked.

"Never met a cougar before. Didn't recognise the scent," said Naruto, unfazed by the blow to his head as he moved back to where Tsunade and Sasuke waited. "You can get the shackle off?"

"Yep. I'm also going to give you a check-up. Though I mostly work as a mechanic, I also doctor injured hybrids. Mostly those who are living off the grid and don't want to get caught." This last bit of information was news to Sasuke. It had never crossed his mind that there may be an underground population of hybrids hiding from society. Naruto's ears flattened downwards when he heard the word check-up and his gaze shifted to the briefcase clutched in Tsunade's hands.

x-x-x-x-x

An hour later, after a few excruciatingly slow and somewhat painful attempts at removing the shackle, finally they were rewarded with a dull _thunk_ as the thick iron hit the floor. Sweat was beaded on Tsunade's brow as she regarded the twisted shackle. "I hate to think of how they actually attached that, since it was welded shut," she paused to examine his skin, "and yet not a mark to be seen here."

"I heal quick, always have. Lucky me," replied Naruto, relief lining his voice. He stared happily at his bare ankle, the skin once hidden beneath it was left much paler than that of the surrounding skin. He glanced up at Tsunade, gave an awkward nod of thanks, and looked back to his ankle.

Tsunade looked over at Sasuke, asking politely, "May I use your kitchen or bathroom? I need to clean my hands before I examine the Fox." At this a low growl escaped Naruto's mouth and he backed away from the pair quickly.

"No examination. I don't need it. You can see I'm fine." His brows were knitted together and his teeth bared, his tail flicking restlessly behind him betraying his unease.

"Naruto," growled Tsunade in warning, her voice lowering as her patience waned. "You were one of the Akatsuki's hybrids. Sasuke told me earlier. I know for a fact that they don't vaccinate hybrids to the correct standards, nor do they treat the injured properly either. While I was removing that shackle, I could feel in your leg a place where the leg had been broken and wasn't reset properly. Before I can leave you here where you can escape into the world, I need to know that your health won't endanger the rest of the hybrid population. Sasuke, show me to your kitchen."

Naruto didn't respond, just shifted so that there was a couch between them. Sasuke moved to the doorway and indicated that Tsunade should follow him. Once in the kitchen, hands washed, she took the opportunity to educate Sasuke.

"Look, I'm not sure how familiar you are with hybrid history and the supposed reason for our creation, but the most popular reason cited is for immunity to disease. True or not, the scientist ended up doing the reverse. Hybrids _must_ be careful because they are vulnerable to both human _and_ animal disease. Furthermore, Akatsuki doesn't see hybrids as human and doesn't treat them as such. The reason he doesn't want to be examined is most likely due to extreme cruelty, especially if he is who I think he is."

Sasuke's frown deepened, the line between his brows becoming more pronounced. He was surprised by the information regarding hybrid vulnerability to disease, but what concerned him more at the moment was Tsunade's last words. "What do you mean 'if he is who you think he is'?" Sasuke asked, making quotation marks with his fingers in the air.

"There have been rumours," said Tsunade, choosing her words carefully, "that there is, or now was, an extremely aggressive fox hybrid with the Akatsuki group. I've heard a few stories of his exploits; in fact, he was becoming a liability and they were hoping for his death in one of the hybrid fights coming up – possibly the one you found him in. One particular thing that I confirmed just by touching his leg was a story that came to me through a racoon hybrid I treated recently."

"Mm?" Sasuke gestured for her to continue.

"Well, he told me that in an escape attempt that resulted in a broken leg for the hybrid, no medical care was given for a day or two. As you may have noticed, Naruto's healing abilities are above par? Well, by the time they came to him, his bones had begun to knit back together at an angle. The only way to fix this is to re-break and re-set the bone, and in an operation like Akatsuki…there aren't many luxuries, like anaesthesia for example." Tsunade's face and tone were grim.

Sasuke's expression was that of mild revulsion and pity. No wonder Naruto was so aggressive in his refusal of medical treatment; he had no reason to trust anyone claiming to be a part of the medical profession. In fact, it only just occurred to Sasuke that he should thank god that Naruto was passed out when the medics came to treat his leg. "So, how are you going to treat him if he's this unco-operative?"

"Well, I must warn you…if he reacts with violence, what you see in the next half hour will most certainly not pass for human behaviour, so don't freak out. Additionally, I can hear him trying to pry open the lift doors, so you may want to go stop him before he breaks them," said Tsunade, already unpacking her mini medical kit.

"Gah?" Sasuke ran into the foyer where Naruto, oblivious to anyone else in the room, was prising the doors apart. "Naruto! Stop that before you break it." Naruto turned with a jolt having not heard Sasuke enter the small room. Cautiously shifting out of Sasuke's reach, Naruto remained quiet and wary.

Sasuke, moving slowly, palms up to show he was harmless, began to circle Naruto before approaching him, forcing Naruto to walk down the hallway to the living room in order to maintain their distance. Ultimately, they ended up back where they started, Naruto standing in front of the couch with all of his attention on Sasuke, the twitch in his tail becoming more pronounced.

It then came as a shock to them both when Tsunade appeared from nowhere, flinging herself onto Naruto, forcing his arms to his sides. He snarled and bucked against Tsunade, hurling himself to the ground in an attempt to either pin her or escape. She, on the other hand, wore a look of clear determination, hanging on tightly though Sasuke was sure she'd have severe bruises later on.

When Naruto managed to sink his teeth into the soft flesh of her arm, Sasuke was certain that she would let go but much to his surprise, a look of satisfaction instead crossed her features. Moving so fast his mind didn't have time to register it, she leaned forward and sunk her teeth into the nape of Naruto's neck. And just like that the fight was over and Naruto lay limp in her arms, like she'd hit some magic button, the only sign of resistance a barely audible growl escaping between Naruto's teeth.

Without releasing Naruto from her bite, Tsunade reached down with one hand to grab a syringe full of sedatives and jabbed it into the flesh of Naruto's ass. Sasuke watched as the tension seeped out of the restrained blonde, the anxiety induced tail flicking coming to a halt.

Tsunade hoisted up the fox with relative ease, depositing him on the sofa. She and Sasuke looked at Naruto, who stared dreamily into space with an unfocused gaze.

"That hurt?" asked Sasuke, looking pointedly at the blood trickling from the bite on Tsunade's arm. She leaned over her briefcase and came away with some bandages, wrapping them tightly around the wound.

Her grin bared her pointed teeth. "Not as much as you would think. He's just a pup compared to me." She quickly administered some shots to herself, glancing at Sasuke and by way of explanation said, "Like I said before, hybrids are vulnerable to disease."

"Are you going to examine him?" Sasuke asked, the indifference of his tone masking his curiosity. He wondered exactly how one went about performing a check-up on a hybrid. Without giving an answer, Tsunade moved over to Naruto and began to look him over. After checking his teeth, feeling along his limbs to check his bones, and administering the basic shots, such as tetanus, she finally came to the wound on his calf. Pressing her nose to the wound she inhaled deeply, and Sasuke's eyebrows went up.

"Hm. His breathing and heartbeat sound good, and I can't smell an infection, which is a positive, and though you said this was stitched only yesterday, those stitches are ready to be removed. He _does_ heal remarkably quickly." She drew out a pair of surgical scissors, snipping away the neat little stitches left by yesterday's medics. Her last act was to draw some blood to run tests on. "I'll be able to let you know the results by the end of the week. Where's he sleeping?"

Irritated, Sasuke was about to tell her to mind her own damn business when she lifted Naruto over her shoulder and indicated that she was moving him to his room to sleep off the sedatives. After dropping the sedated fox into bed and covering him over with the quilt, Tsunade let Sasuke escort her back to the lift.

"One last thing I should probably alert you to," she said slyly. "When scientists were creating us, they didn't have the aforethought to match the gender of the animal with the gender of the embryo. Though he is definitely all male, I would say that Naruto has female fox mixed into him."

"And what makes you say that?" asked Sasuke cautiously, knowing that she was enjoying this too much for his liking.

"Well other than being a young hybrid with a keen sense of smell, _he_ smells like a fox," she paused for effect, smirking, "going into heat." She gave a light pat to his shoulder and a grin. "And there's only one person here that could be raising his interest. Good luck."

With that, she stepped onto the lift with a little wave, only adding, "I'll call you with results soon," as the doors slid shut, leaving Sasuke to ponder this fascinating piece of information. If you read into the slight smirk on his face, you could say there was very little chance of him being upset about it.

x-x-x-x-x

A/N: Hey guys,

So this is part one of two of an idea I've had rolling around in my brain for a while. I can honestly say I'm unsure about what the response will be to this fic xD You may have noticed that this is labelled NaruSasuNaru. It was originally going to be written as a NaruSasu, but as per a request of catiemon, I realised that NaruSasuNaru felt more right in this piece.

I don't know when part two will be complete, but I will be working on it soon. Please review if you have time; I'd love to know if you enjoyed it.

Happy reading.

~dusk. xo


	2. Chapter 2

**Description**: When a situation leads Sasuke to bring home Naruto, a fox hybrid who has a thing for his scent, what will ensue?

**Pairing/s**: SasuNaru/NaruSasu

**Warnings**: Explicit adult content; hybrid!Naruto; yaoi (malexmale); lemon. If this will offend you, do not read.

**Disclaimer**: The _Naruto_ world belongs to Kishimoto. I do not make a profit from this FanFic.

x-x-x-x-x

Scent Of My Heart – Part 2

Sasuke stared out at the view from the window of his office, his mind nowhere near the pile of work he was supposed to be finishing. It was a loud knock on the heavy oak door to his office that made him start and broke him out of his daydreams. Gathering his thoughts together, he cleared his throat before saying in a bored tone, "Yes?" His personal assistant's head poked around the corner, a worried expression on her face as she tucked a few strands of dark hair behind her ear.

"Um, Mr Uchiha, I've been trying to connect a call to you for the last five minutes…but you haven't picked up. Is everything okay?" Her eyes scanned the sparsely decorated round room, taking in the very few photographs. One of his parents, one family portrait and one of him in his graduation garb. Finally her eyes came back to him and she was surprised to see him flushing.

"Er, yeah, I was off in my own world entirely, Shizune. Sorry. What's the call about?" he replied, quickly shifting the topic to something else before she could ask for the cause of his distraction.

"I'm not sure exactly what it's regarding…but it's your brother on the phone. Do you want me to put him through? Or I could make an excuse if you aren't up to it?" Shizune offered. The corner of Sasuke's mouth twitched upwards for a heartbeat. Shizune was very capable and he appreciated the thought, but this conversation was something he'd been expecting for the last four days.

"No, no. That's okay, you can put him through," he replied, grimacing at the prospect. "Probably wouldn't believe I was out of the office after being left on hold for this long anyway." Shizune offered a small smile before sliding back out of the large circular office.

His phone trilled quietly twice under a pile of paperwork and after digging through and locating it, he answered and Shizune said right away, "Mr Uchiha is on line two." Sasuke thanked her and pressed the button connecting him to his older brother.

"Itachi here."

"Sasuke speaking."

There was an awkward moment of silence, before Itachi spoke. "Okay, so we know whose taking part in this conversation. Moving on. Sasuke, I've had some odd reports from one of my guys working at your office. Did you, or rather, ACE staff seriously take possession of not one but eight hybrids four days ago?" Sasuke sighed, wishing the conversation was over rather than just starting.

"Temporarily," he replied shortly. A moment of quiet ensued as Itachi waited for Sasuke to elaborate. Sighing, Sasuke scowled at the desk. "Akatsuki got involved and left the mess on our doorstep. All in all, eight hybrids were taken in, one by each member of staff that was on duty."

"Including yourself?" Itachi's voice held curiosity rather than disapproval, much to Sasuke's surprise. "I didn't know that hybrids were one of your kinks or I would have recomm-"

"I do _not_ have a hybrid kink," Sasuke growled into the phone, a muscle twitching in his cheek and a headache beginning over his right eyebrow. "I-" Before he could continue, Shizune pushed the office door open with her hip and crossed to the desk. "I meant to ask how your trip overseas went?" he forced himself to ask, unwilling to discuss _anyone's_ kinks in front of one his employees, no matter how trusted.

Itachi chuckled and replied, "Very well, little brother. We will have at least one office opened here in France by the end of the year and I was pleasantly surprised by the level of interest that one of the visiting Italian businessmen showed in our company. So, your assistant should be gone now. Tell me about your hybrid kink. Or just about your hybrid, if that makes you feel better." He shifted straight back to the previous topic in a heartbeat, clearly enjoying provoking Sasuke.

Sasuke looked at the glass of water, the pill and the note left on the table. _It's been about three minutes since you started talking to Itachi, which is usually when you need to pop an ibuprofen._ God, his assistant was a blessing. He downed the pill before formulating a reply.

"Male fox hybrid. Maybe twenty or so. He was the one that caused the trouble at the Hyuga event. Who are, if you've been paying attention, paying quadruple the original fee." Sasuke couldn't prevent the tinge of pride from entering his voice.

"Yes, I was actually. That was more than well done. Not only are we earning much more than anticipated, they are still indebted to us for our silence and I can guarantee they will be loyal customers forevermore. I probably would have done the same." Itachi paused for a moment before redirecting the subject slyly. "I take it from your apparent unwillingness to speak of the hybrid that he is your…type? That's good. You need a good lay. It will get rid of those stress headaches you complain of."

"What? No! Where did you-? I mean, why-?" Sasuke spluttered, unable to form sentences.

"Hmmm. Hybrids are very attractive beings," Itachi continued, acting as if Sasuke hadn't said anything. "They have a certain charisma that attracts us humans. Almost all humans find it hard to resist sex with hybrids especially if it's what the hybrid wants, though I'm not sure why – pheromones maybe? Anyway, let me guess, you could just eat yours up or spend all day watching him? You've really got nothing to lose, you know. Hybrids can be exceptional bed partners. In fact, I once slept with – not that much sleeping got done, mind you – with this shark hybrid who could do the most _incredible_ thing with his p-" Sasuke slammed the phone down.

He loved his brother, but the man was constantly coming up with ways to push Sasuke's buttons. Hearing about Itachi's weird sex life just… Sasuke shuddered. He didn't want to think about it too much – it was his _brother_. He was bothered by the conversation. Why? Because Itachi somehow hit the nail on the head.

He glanced at the monitor sitting on his desk, the generic screen saver bouncing around, and his fingers twitched with the desire to pull the keyboard towards him. The clock on the wall informed him that it was 3pm and Sasuke finally gave in, and dragged the keyboard over the desk. Within seconds, he was viewing the security feed to his apartment.

The first thing he noticed was that the dining room was no longer the dining room. It now appeared to be the lounge room. With a mental shrug, Sasuke skimmed the feeds until his breath caught in his chest when he located the fox. He appeared to be walking down the hallway from the bathroom towards the bedroom. Sasuke's heart throbbed as he saw Naruto's chest rise and fall as he inhaled deeply. Goosebumps rose on his skin as the hybrid pressed his mostly nude form against Sasuke's door, rubbing against it sensually.

So involved in the hybrid's actions, Sasuke almost jumped out of his skin when the shrill ringing of the phone next to his ear began. It seemed to require a physical effort to drag himself away from the screen, but Sasuke hit the button turning off the monitor and lifted the receiver to his ear. "Uchiha," he said sharply, shifting in his seat to ease the uncomfortable tightness of his pants. "Oh, I see. Good. Yeah, yeah. Of course. Ah, I'll ask him tonight. Bye."

x-x-x-x-x

Naruto walked around the apartment restlessly. Four days he had been here and he hadn't left the room. He was bored; even shifting the furniture around the apartment was no longer interesting. He felt somewhat hot and bothered, and wondered if maybe Sasuke's thermostat was broken. It was always so warm in the apartment, almost uncomfortably so. His energy levels were through the roof and he needed to get out and move, or maybe go to a gym.

The worst part about being left at the apartment was that Sasuke left early and came home late. Since Tsunade's visit, it felt like Sasuke had been avoiding him and it left him somewhat lonely. The smell that had been bothering him was still there, behind Sasuke's bedroom door. Naruto was so tempted to go in and roll on the huge double bed, to wrap himself in the scent. It was only the fact that Sasuke shut the door everyday that made sure he didn't go in; though his body was willing him to pass through the door as a ghost would, as if pressing against it enough would grant his desire.

Since he'd been staying with Sasuke, Naruto hadn't felt been feeling quite like himself. Naruto was beginning to wonder if there was something wrong with him. He'd never had the need for so many cold showers in his life; feeling aroused at the oddest of times – shifting furniture or watching cars drive by way down on the streets was _not_ supposed to be arousing.

Donning nothing but a pair of black and orange shorts, Naruto lay on the couch in the former dining room and stared at the ceiling, every now and again sending a glare down to his frequently misbehaving appendage. His ears twitched when he realised the gears churning in the elevator shaft were coming to a halt at the foyer of the apartment. 4.49pm. Sasuke was home early.

Naruto rolled off the couch and moved to the foyer with a grace and agility that was beyond human ability. Sasuke stepped out of the lift, a bundle of manila folders tucked tightly under one arm, the hand of which was holding some paper bags from high end designers, briefcase clutched in the other hand and Naruto could see the deep crease between his brows.

Sasuke stiffened as his houseguest crossed the room and circled him, shoulder brushing shoulder and a sleek soft tail stroking across the back of the hand on his briefcase. Naruto leaned in close and sniffed his cheek before pulling back with a grin as he heard Sasuke's heart trying to jump from his chest. Bringing the briefcase up between them, almost shield-like, Sasuke implemented all of his self-control to project a tone of authority.

"Naruto. I need to have a shower and then I have a few things to talk to you about," he said, pulling away from the hybrid that was doing his best to make physical contact with him. Repeatedly. Transferring the manila folders to the arm holding his briefcase, Sasuke thrust the cluster of shopping bags at Naruto's chest.

The hybrid's hands came up to grasp the bags and he looked at Sasuke in confusion. "What-?" he questioned, before Sasuke interrupted.

"Clothes," he said curtly. "For you." Seeing that Naruto still had no clue as to what he was talking about, Sasuke rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Clothes for you to wear, to keep. There will be a few more items being brought up in a moment. You wait here for the person delivering. Anyway, we can talk about it when I get out of the shower." Sidestepping Naruto, Sasuke headed for his room before Naruto could tempt him anymore.

The blonde-haired man looked from the bags to the retreating shoulders before wandering back into the new lounge room to settle on the couch and dig through Sasuke's purchases. He was a little excited to see the new shirts, shorts, pants and pyjamas in the bag, though his excitement dimmed when he considered the fact that these may be some kind of parting gifts before he sent Naruto on his way, and who knew what the next place would be like. Though he could smell that Sasuke physically desired him, it wouldn't matter at all if Sasuke decided that he didn't like the idea of a hybrid living in his house.

Meanwhile, Sasuke let his head fall gently against the tiles in the shower – the cold shower – as he tried to make himself decent for a serious conversation. After finishing his shower and changing into a clean white shirt and dark blue jeans, he headed for the kitchen to cook the spaghetti to go with the bolognaise sauce that was pre-prepared in the fridge. As he dropped the pasta into the boiling water over the stove, he heard Naruto move one of the kitchen chairs and turned to ask if he was hungry.

Opening his mouth was as far as he got before all coherent thoughts escaped from his mind. Naruto had evidently decided that he was going to sample his new clothes for dinner and the result was spectacular. A black, long-sleeved shirt beneath an expensive black suit, with a cobalt blue tie that complimented his eyes, his hair carefully styled into spikes. With a few pieces of jewellery, Sasuke would wager that Naruto could pass for royalty, with or without ears and a tail.

"Uh, wow," Sasuke eventually managed to vocalise. "You look great. The clothes suit you." Naruto grinned, canines gleaming, and inclined his head in Sasuke's direction, before sitting on the kitchen stool, tail swinging lazily behind him.

"Well, you're to thank for that. First suit I've ever owned," he replied, giving a light tug on the lapels of jacket. "You know my size?" He watched as Sasuke turned lithely to stir at the pot on the stove.

"Well, you're slightly shorter and a little broader through the shoulders than I am. It was easy enough for my tailor to follow those instructions and adjust my measurements to fit you. Of course it won't be perfect until you get measured up, but it will do for now. Though, I forgot to mention your tail; I assume you made a hole in the seam? Next time that can be tailored in as well." Sasuke placed a large strainer over the sink, then carried the hot pot of spaghetti over and tipped it in.

Naruto moved over to the refrigerator to get the bolognaise sauce for Sasuke, removing the lid and putting it in the empty pasta pot to reheat. Sasuke came to stand next to him, waiting for him to move out of the way so he could finish getting dinner ready. Naruto stepped aside as Sasuke squeezed into the small gap in front of him. Turning to ask Naruto to give him space, Sasuke noticed the blonde's nostrils flare as he sniffed in Sasuke's direction.

Sasuke bit the inside of his cheek to prevent himself from chuckling at this habit he couldn't help but find cute. Naruto soon realised that he was overcrowding Sasuke, so he shrugged and walked around the island bench to plonk himself in one of the chairs. Admittedly, the view of Sasuke cooking wasn't a bad one, so he couldn't complain.

"So… This talk we need to have? And the clothes?" Naruto asked after a few minutes indulged in observing Sasuke's movements, a tinge of curiosity showing in his otherwise mellow voice. Sasuke separated the pasta into two bowls, then generously spooned the bolognaise sauce over the top. Sliding one of the bowls over the bench top to the blonde, Sasuke grabbed a chair and dragged it to the kitchen side of the bench so as to sit facing Naruto.

"Yes," he said slowly, taking the time to think about what he wanted to say. "Today I got a call from Tsunade to let me know that the results from your health check are in, and you're completely fine. There are no issues with your health at all." Sasuke saw the fox's shoulders relax slightly as if he had been fearing the worst. Before Naruto could ask any questions, Sasuke moved on to the next message that Tsunade had asked him to pass on. "Tsunade also wanted me to let you know that she's holding a Half-Party for all the hybrids involved on Friday night, if you are interested in going to see how they all are. It'll be a hybrids only gathering."

Naruto's ears pricked up at that. Half-Parties were normally held by the owners of hybrids to show off their own hybrid whilst admiring other peoples – they were called Half-Parties because some of the guests were only half human. Not only would he be getting out of this apartment, he'd get a chance to make sure his friends were okay. In the life of a hybrid, there was every chance that someone you'd spent time with for years would suddenly be whisked away, never to be heard from again.

Naruto grinned at Sasuke as he dug into his dinner. "Sounds good. When is it?"

"Tomorrow, around midday at Tsunade's place," replied Sasuke, glad that the blonde seemed happy with the idea.

"So, what about the rest of these clothes?" asked Naruto, using his fork to gesture to the suit he was wearing. "Surely they aren't all for the Half-Party… Like, I wouldn't wear a suit to a party. We're not that formal. You know, most of us being without access to such high-class things."

"Ah, now you bring me to my other point. I was wondering, do you have any skills?" Sasuke quickly realised that this question actually sounded rather offensive. Naruto's eyebrows drew together and his teeth were bared, a growl escaping his lips. Sasuke held up his hands in an attempt to placate the insulted fox. "I don't mean to sound rude. What I meant was, what job skills do you have? You seem rather bored, judging by the state of my apartment," he said, with an amused smirk, "and if you were interested I thought I might find some work for you at ACE."

This time it was Naruto's eyebrows to go upwards in surprise. A job? It was almost unheard of for hybrids to have jobs, unless it was something their owners had set for them. He amended that thought. Hybrids didn't have jobs unless it was something their owners had set for them _or_ they were like Tsunade and were indistinguishable from the human population. Sasuke cocked his head slightly to one side and Naruto realised he was still awaiting an answer.

"Uh, well, I have decent typing and computer skills – transcribing is one of my stronger points. Cleaning, cooking, and heavy lifting – these are also areas many hybrids are useful in. We were trained to be useful to our owners." There was a shade of doubt in Naruto's response, as if he wasn't sure if about Sasuke's sincerity. Sasuke, however, seemed content.

"Good. I have the perfect job for you. You can start the day after tomorrow…unless you don't want to, of course?" Naruto hurriedly agreed with Sasuke before he could change his mind. "Okay, well then, tomorrow or the day after we'll have to go and open a bank account in your name. I'll pick you up… Hummm." Sasuke reached into his pocket and flipped open the ever-present cell phone, hitting his number four speed dial.

Naruto listened with interest as a woman answered at the other end.

"Hello? Shizune?" said Sasuke. "Do I have any meetings scheduled for tomorrow? Hmm, can you call and see if he would mind it being pushed back to Friday afternoon? Yeah. I, uh, I won't be coming in tomorrow. In fact, if you want, you can take the next two days off – paid of course – and…yeah, of course I'll manage. Thanks Shizune. Yeah, you too."

A few more phone calls and Sasuke was completely free for the next two days. Having not had much of a social life over the years he'd been working for ACE, Sasuke had a lot of paid leave built up. Using a couple of days to settle Naruto into life in the real world was pretty much Sasuke's idea of a vacation.

"As I was saying, I'll take you to Tsunade's tomorrow, and then pick you up in the evening. Then the next day, bank account in the morning, ACE in the afternoon to show you the ropes." Sasuke wore a strong look of self-satisfaction on his face. He liked to be organised, and now he had the next two days all mapped out. Oh, and then there was the fact that it was going to be two days in the company of a delectably hot hybrid.

"I'm honestly surprised that Akatsuki Entertainment put that much time into your education just make you fight," Sasuke commented after thinking for a while.

Naruto looked up from his bowl, confused. "The Akatsuki guys didn't educate us. Well not academically, anyway. They trained us in martial arts. So we could fight," he added unnecessarily. Now Sasuke looked puzzled. "They bought us off the agency when we were seventeen. The agency educates us so we can be useful to our owners. Who would want a half human pet that can't work a washing machine or read a recipe?"

Well, it was certainly true that if Naruto knew nothing upon his arrival things would have been extremely difficult, Sasuke mused silently. Naruto, he noted, was drifting away into his own thoughts brought on by the subject.

Sasuke took pleasure in watching a now absent-minded Naruto eat. Strong, slightly claw like hands, lightly muscled body that contained more power than one would consider possible, short, thick blonde hair that made Sasuke wonder what it would feel like to run his fingers through it, eyes that were wild and mesmerising, and pink lips that looked soft and inviting. Naruto raised a forkful of pasta to his mouth, delicately pulling it into his mouth to chew, his neck muscles flexing as he swallowed the morsel.

Sasuke licked his lips and sat entranced, his own forgotten fork raised halfway to his mouth, his face taking on a pink tinge. Naruto's nose twitched and he looked directly at Sasuke, almost as if he knew what Sasuke was thinking. Naruto finished the last bite of his pasta, eyes still locked on Sasuke's. Standing, he slowly prowled around the island bench to wash his bowl in the sink, right beside Sasuke's chair. For the second time that day, Sasuke felt Naruto's shoulder rub across his own and the long tail flick against his clothed leg a few times.

When Sasuke cleared his throat to talk, Naruto's eyes snapped open and he stepped back, a startled look on his face as if he hadn't even realised what he was doing. Before Sasuke could say anything, the hybrid hurriedly spoke as he backed away from the chair and its occupant.

"Uh, I'm going to bed… long day today. Shifting furniture and tomorrow…the party… Night." Sasuke was a little miffed by the change in attitude. Usually Naruto was confident, cheeky and teasing – even the way he spoke becoming more relaxed after a few days here.

Naruto leaned against the door of his bedroom, eyes shut. He could smell Sasuke's desire for him and it wasn't his first time feeling attracted to a human, but never had he been unable to control himself. If he _wanted_ to brush against Sasuke, then that was fine, but lately he'd found his body doing things he hadn't planned for it to do. A faint shiver ran through his body as he pictured Sasuke staring at him, cheeks flushed and lips slightly parted, across the bench. Time for another cold shower.

x-x-x-x-x

Though there was some residual awkwardness the next morning, it faded as Sasuke once again managed to resume his cool, calm and collected demeanour. Naruto, though keeping his distance in the beginning, eventually forgot his own wariness in favour of being excited about the Half-Party coming up. He did a lot of pacing, trying to burn off the excess energy thought there was precious little chance of that happening.

Sasuke was amused by the blonde's glances first at the clock then more discreetly at himself, though he feigned ignorance while reading the newspaper. When he stood up at 11.45am and removed his reading glasses, Naruto rushed to the elevator, calling back to Sasuke, "I've got your coat and keys." Sasuke grinned and followed. Once in the lobby, the blonde realised that he actually had no clue where Sasuke had parked nor what colour car to look for, and so was forced to stop and wait for Sasuke to catch up to him.

Sasuke led him to another elevator, which in turn led to an underground parking garage. Looking around, it wasn't hard to pick out which belonged to the raven haired man. It was the only convertible in the underground parking garage. Sasuke loved his silver Porsche Boxter convertible. It was one of the few things he had indulged in after working his way up through the business.

Naruto had idea what constituted a good or bad car. He just knew that as the shiniest car down here, it was most likely Sasuke's. That, and the fact that it smelled like him so strongly. With a mental shrug, he waited until Sasuke said it was unlocked before climbing in, trying to inhale the myriad of scents within the car purely out of habit.

They barely talked in the car, so focused was Naruto on the prospect of seeing his friends. Looking out the window was interesting for Naruto, as he'd never really seen the city before. It was fascinating watching the people interact; it was so different to what he was used to seeing. Along the street and at bus stops, people avoided eye contact with each other and did their best to stay out of everyone else's space. In fact, some people even seemed to be offended by the accidental bumps and touches that inevitably came with close proximity.

Hybrid culture was so different. Naruto's earliest memories were of the hybrid agency's 'crèche', as it was known. After a hybrid was born, it was removed from the care of the surrogate and placed with a nurse for the first two years of its life. At the age of two, they were taken to the crèche where they stayed with other hybrids until the age of six or so. On his first night there, he had arrived at the crèche just as everyone was being put to bed. He had started to cry, little ears drooping as he looked around and found nothing familiar.

Then an older hybrid of five or six had taken him gently by the hand and led him to a bed of squirming two and three year old hybrids. Lightly pushing him into the pile of children, the older hybrid tucked in the blanket around them and headed back to his own group. As he continued to sniffle quietly, he made his first friends when a small hand slipped into his and a tongue swiped across his cheek and tears in friendly greeting. The hand belonged to a red-headed tanuki hybrid and the tongue to a brunette canine hybrid.

Pulling himself away from the memories, he realised that they had reached a well-off suburban area. He saw Sasuke's lips move slightly as he read the address from a slip of paper. Looking at the numerals on the letterboxes as they passed by, Naruto heard Sasuke's triumphant mutter of, "Aha!" as they finally found the right house. Pulling into the driveway, Naruto observed that in comparison to the other houses, this one was humongous.

That a hybrid could own a house at all, let alone one this size, amazed Naruto. The red brick giant loomed two stories tall and took up the entire block of land. They climbed out of the car and up to the door, Sasuke confidently pressing the button to ring the door bell. Tsunade opened the door, and straight away Naruto nose started twitching as he was bombarded with the scents of other humans and hybrids inside.

"Hello, Sasuke," Tsunade said, looking questioningly at his car in the driveway. "I don't see anything wrong with your car, so I'm not sure why you're at the door. This is a hybrids-only function, you know. Very exclusive." A quirk of her lips let him know that she was joking.

"Not here to stay," he replied promptly. "Just wanted to leave my mobile number with you. I haven't had time to get Naruto a cell phone yet and I didn't think to write it down before we left, so when he's ready to be picked up, someone needs my personal number – and you only have the office number, I think." Tsunade shrugged and passed over her phone to let Sasuke program in his number. Naruto she took by the shoulders and ushered him over the threshold.

Handing the phone back to Tsunade, Sasuke offered Naruto a brief wave of the hand in farewell, before heading back to his car. Tsunade shut the front door and turned to face Naruto. "You're the last to arrive. Apparently no one wanted to be later than the boss, so while you came exactly on time, everyone else arrived a little early."

Boss? Oh, right, the rest of the hybrids went with ACE employees, thought Naruto, glancing up and down the hall, curiosity radiating from him.

"I run this place as a half-way house for hybrids with nowhere else to go, with some funding from people sympathetic to the hybrid population. In this house, there are fifteen rooms on each level. There's also a basement level, which I converted to a gym and a pool area for water-type hybrids. I also own the two houses to the left of this one for the hybrids who don't like to be crowded in with everyone else. Lone wolf types," she said jokingly.

Naruto smiled at the remark, following Tsunade as she led him through the large house. Going up a flight of stairs and straight to the back of the building, he found himself walking into a large, obviously communal, living room. Everyone was chatting amongst themselves, swapping addresses while they had the opportunity. So busy watching everyone else, he didn't notice the man beside him until he felt the familiar swipe of a tongue across his cheek.

"Kiba!" he exclaimed, turning to face the brunette. Kiba grinned, his own canines showing and tail wagging enthusiastically as they took a good look at each other, checking that no damage had occurred in the past five days. Naruto was delighted to see the good-health of his friend, the eyes above the red triangle tattoos on his cheeks showing that he was just as happy to see the same was true for Naruto.

"So," Naruto grinned. "Where'd you end up?" Judging by the nice new clothes Kiba donned, whomever had taken him in was taking care of him well. In fact, a glance and sniff around the room told him that all of the other hybrids had been treated fairly well. Kiba tugged him by the wrist, leading him to a plush blue sofa.

"Hum, I got taken home by this guy, Kankuro, and he's a pretty decent sort," Kiba replied happily. "Lives in a nice apartment, plenty of food. He even has a pup named Akamaru that seems to have taken a liking to me." Naruto rolled his eyes at that. _All_ dogs liked Kiba unless they were aggressive or territorial. "What's the guy like that took you home in the end?" he inquired with an intense curiosity. "Since you never came out of that room before we were paired off one at a time, I never got to see what he looked like. He's someone good-looking, no doubt."

Naruto started. How did Kiba know that his owner was good looking?

"He's nice, I guess. I, uh, I went home with Sasuke Uchiha," Naruto said slowly. "How did you know he's a good-looking guy? Did Tsunade or Genma mention it to you?"

"Nah, nothing like that. It's just that you kinda obviously smell…" Kiba paused uncomfortably, realising that Naruto might not be happy to hear this. Naruto made an 'out with it' motion with his hand, encouraging Kiba to continue. "Well, you smell like…a bi- a dog in heat, dude, which I assume means he floats your boat," he said apologetically, quickly adding, "not that there's anything wrong with it. It might even be normal for a hybrid?"

"In heat?" squeaked Naruto, voice rising an octave. He raised his arm and sniffed at his underarm, though he couldn't smell anything amiss. "Bullshit! You're joking, right? I smell the same as always. Something must be wrong with your nose," he accused, trying to reassure himself.

Tsunade, who had just finished talking to Hinata outside the little medical booth, heard Naruto's squeak and came over to see what he was so bothered by that he would argue with Kiba.

"I'm not lying and there's nothing wrong with my sense of smell. _You're_ just in denial," the canine hybrid declared, outraged that his friend would even consider questioning his sense of smell. From the corner of his eye, he noticed Tsunade's approach. "Look, even ask the cougar doctor. She can probably tell too. Maybe even explain it."

Naruto turned to her, a mixture of embarrassment and panic. Clearly he didn't really want to ask the question, especially if she said that she agreed with Kiba. Unfortunately for him, she'd picked up on enough of the conversation that she didn't need to be asked. It seemed an opportune moment to talk about it, in fact, since someone else had already got the ball rolling.

"Kiba's right," she stated directly, standing in front of them. "It's one of the reasons that today's gathering was a no-human affair. There are things I have to discuss with each of you that's really only your own business. You've probably never realised it before, but the fox whose genetic material you carry is a female." Naruto looked somewhat horrified, glancing down at his lap momentarily as if to reassure himself that he was, in fact, still male.

"Am I-? Can I get…?" Naruto asked, finding it hard to speak since his throat was now dry. What he really wanted to know was whether this made him female.

"Naruto," Tsunade said sharply, catching his attention before he could start to get overanxious. "You are 100% male. You can't reproduce without a female partner; you don't have ovaries or any other female reproductive organs. The main difference is that when you meet someone you're extremely attracted to, you'll probably go into heat. It's a hormonal thing, and it's not that uncommon. Think about it. Since you've met Sasuke, have you felt any different?" There was a moment of silence between the three as Naruto thought about it.

"Oh," he breathed, relieved that there was no need for an identity crisis. Actually, this made his entire stay with the raven haired man make sense. Now that he thought about it, for the first time in days, he wasn't aching to rub against a certain someone's body and bathe in their scent. He guessed that this was due to his proximity, or lack thereof, to Sasuke. Scratching his head for a moment, he contemplated what this might mean for the future. "Er, is there anything to get rid of the…you know, the smell? I don't want every hybrid I meet to know that I'm horny; that's just awkward."

Tsunade grinned. "Have some happy time with Sasuke, and your biological urge to attempt procreation should be satisfied. I can't guarantee you won't go back into heat again in the future, but it's worked out for some of my other patients with your problem. And both you and I can smell Sasuke's desire for you…do you really think he'd knock you back, especially after taking you in?"

Kiba thumped him on the back with a grin. "See? Nothing to fuss about. All part of the screwed up DNA the scientists gave us while they were evidently getting stoned. And now, you have a medical reason to screw your owner." Seeing Naruto was about to interrupt him, Kiba rolled his eyes and said firmly, "Don't complain. It's a fact. He's your owner. He may not of paid for you, but while your with him and you depend on him, he owns you. Let's not kid ourselves here-"

"Yeah, yeah, alright," interrupted Naruto rolling his eyes, muttering under his breath, "and no one ever said I was going to complain about having Sasuke as an owner." Kiba chuckled, his hearing good enough to pick up the comment. "I was just going to say that I'm not sure your DNA is as screwed up as mine. I don't see you going into heat over any guy that melts your butter."

"Hey, I live with the fact that every time I come in contact with a dog, domestic or otherwise, I can catch their colds and whatever. That's right, I can catch kennel cough. As a fox, I'd say you're less likely to meet any foxes to make you sick in the city." Kiba rolled his eyes dramatically and Naruto grinned, always having shared Kiba's sense of humour, despite the fact that they both knew that Naruto could catch many of the same things as Kiba.

Before he could reply though, Tsunade waved to catch Kiba's attention. "I've also got to give you your health check results, if you'd like to step over here for a few minutes?" Kiba followed her to the medical booth as she started passing him some items the fox couldn't make out.

A tentative hand on his elbow made him aware of a presence behind him. He turned to find Hinata smiling sweetly, albeit shyly, at him. Her translucent wings were red with black spots, extending to just beyond her feet when fully unfolded. Most of the time, though, they folded almost flat to her back, ending halfway down her butt. Unlike a real ladybird, her wings didn't have elytra – that is, the hardened wing covers, just the pattern on her wings.

"I'm really glad to see you're safe, Naruto," she said softly, wings moving minutely behind her. "I thought you might be punished for attacking the people at the party instead of fighting me." Her lower lip quivered and she looked at the floor. Naruto moved closer to give her a gentle hug, feeling the slight tremble through her body.

"Ah, it's not your fault. I was mad at them and threw caution to the wind," he comforted, releasing her from the hug. Pulling her over to one of the large sofas, they sat down and he tried to distract her by asking other questions. "So, where did you end up, Hinata? Somewhere good and with someone nice, I hope."

Hinata's eyes lit up as she responded enthusiastically. "Oh! I went home with the leader of the ACE team – Shino! He's great!" she said, smiling warmly. Naruto was relieved that she was happy, since she was the hybrid that everyone felt most protective towards. "You know something great? He loves bugs," she confided. "He's not even worried about my…my…you know."

"Oh? You told him?" Naruto asked with astonishment. One unexpected characteristic that Hinata had picked up from the ladybird side of her genetics was a defence mechanism that activated when threatened. When feeling frightened and endangered, an alkaloid toxin was released through the pores of her skin and when another mammal touched her, it had the potential to make them very ill. They had first found out about this ability when a man from the Hyuga household had bought her from the agency at fourteen.

No one had needed to ask what he'd tried to do in the car on the way back to the estate, but the end result was that he'd come close to dying and Hinata had been sent back to the agency with threats of a lawsuit. That Hinata had felt comfortable telling Shino was amazing for two reasons. Firstly, it was something that truly embarrassed her, and secondly, it was a show of trust that he was allowed to know something that could be used against her should he ever try to hurt her.

They chatted for a few minutes before Hinata excused herself to speak to Tsunade once again. Naruto remained seated, observing the ragtag bunch of hybrids he had spent much of the past three years with. Three hybrids other than himself had come from the same agency, three were older hybrids who had been sold off after a number of years in captivity and one was a hybrid from a very secretive and exclusive agency. So many hybrids just disappeared once they were bought – it was unbelievably rare that he was lucky enough to see the seven others from the Akatsuki group again.

Shaking his head, he tried to dispel the depressing thoughts. This was something that all hybrids eventually got used to, but sometimes you just couldn't help but think about it. Standing up and stretching, he moved back over to the group to make the best of this opportunity to find out how they were.

x-x-x-x-x

A few hours later, the afternoon was coming to an end. Much to everybody's surprise, Tsunade called a meeting, saying that there were a few things she needed to talk to everyone about before they could leave. After everyone had contacted their lift home, they settled back on the couches for Tsunade's little conference.

"Before you all leave, I just wanted you to know a few things. If you every need a place to stay or medical attention of any sort, you're welcome to come back here. I'll give you our number, and should it be necessary, you can call with reverse charges and we'll even send someone to pick you up if you can't get here on your own." She looked around at the small group. "The other thing I wanted you to know is that we are trying to run a program that keeps track of hybrids."

The ears of the hybrids before her perked up, and there were a few whispers of interest.

"Basically," she continued. "What we do is enter you into a database with a current address, the type of hybrid you are and, if possible, your contact details. Then, should someone like to find you or you desire to find another hybrid, we can just look them up. To preserve your privacy and prevent anyone from locating you that you are hiding from, a third party will act as a go between. If you want to register, just come see me before you leave."

It was only after she finished speaking that the hybrids realised that for the most of them, their new owners had arrived.

Sasuke stood in the doorway, awkwardly nodding a greeting to the other ACE. Other than Shino, he hadn't really paid much attention to the other employees names, though he'd flicked through their personnel files to make sure they were suitable temporary (or perhaps permanent) homes for the displaced hybrids. He'd also had a list of the names of the hybrids taken during the Hyuga incident, along with their types of hybridity and who they went home with.

To an outsider who'd never really interacted with hybrids (he thought Tsunade didn't count, since he hadn't known she was a hybrid until the day he'd asked her for help removing Naruto's shackle), the behaviour of hybrids was fascinating to watch. Compared to humans, they were so much more touchy feely.

Naruto was waiting in line with the other hybrids. A brunette canine hybrid had an arm slung over the fox's shoulders and beside him, clutching his hand, was a petite lady bird hybrid. Remembering something Naruto had said in the car on the day that met, Sasuke examined her face a little harder and soon saw the clear resemblance she bore to the Hyuga family. Interesting. A chin on the ladybird's shoulder and the arms wrapped loosely around her waist so as not to squash her wings, belonged to a female cat hybrid with blue eyes and long blonde hair who was rolling her eyes at whatever the canine had said.

In front of the group, talking to Tsunade, was a stoic-seeming bat hybrid. The unbelievable paleness of his skin was a startling contrast to the black, leathery skin of the wings folded at his back. The hybrid turned around to reveal a tank top that only covered the upper part of his chest, creamy white skin and naval exposed below. Sasuke tuned in when he heard one of the ACE team members explaining that clothing was probably too awkward to fit around his wings. The ladybird hybrid solved this problem by wearing a halter top, it appeared.

Sasuke's gaze shifted to the last three hybrids of the group. Unlike Naruto and the others, they were in their mid thirties. The tallest among them was an arctic wolf hybrid, his white ears and tail as pure white as snow. His most distinguishing feature was the scar that ran directly over his eye; which in itself was a unique reddish orange colour that was mismatched from its dark brown partner. There were two women, standing almost pressed against him. One had long, purple hair with large black ears atop her head and a fuzzy grey and black possum tail curling around the wolf's leg. The final hybrid was a tiger hybrid, her black and orange tail flicking as she talked animatedly to her companions, black hair held up messily by a clip.

Sasuke realised that he was going to be in the way of anybody trying to leave or enter if he continued standing in the doorway. He moved down the wall little, standing with his arms crossed and watching as Naruto and his friends took turns giving their details to Tsunade.

Raising his hand to catch Naruto's attention, he gestured towards the front of the house and Naruto nodded, holding up two fingers to show he'd be out in two minutes. Nodding, Sasuke headed off to wait in his car.

After everyone finished, there was a round of hugging, followed by a second round of hugging before everyone departed to find the person taking them home. A few minutes later, there was a click as Naruto opened the door and flopped into the passenger seat, energy practically bubbling.

"I take it you enjoyed yourself," Sasuke said, starting the engine and pulling away from the curb with ease. Despite having dossiers on the hybrids, he was curious about Naruto's thoughts on everything. "How were they all doing?"

"Good, good. I really thought I'd never see them again, you know?" Naruto put his window down, deeply inhaling the scents blowing through the open window. "Two of us – Kakashi and Sai – are going to move to Tsunade's, but everyone else is staying with their ACE partner."

Sasuke pursed his lips. "Which ones were Kakashi and Sai? I mean, I've only read the names once when I was making sure everyone got back to an appropriate household."

"Ah, I forgot you don't know them. Well, Kakashi was the older dude, wolf hybrid. When we were standing in line, he was behind me with Yugao, a possum hybrid, and Anko, a tiger hybrid. Sai was the bat hybrid up front. He's alright, but kinda anti-social. And then there were the ones with me; we all grew up together. The brunette guy is Kiba. He's a mutt. Hinata's pretty unique, she's the ladybird and you don't see many of them. Last but not least, the blonde on the end was a kitty hybrid. Her name's Ino."

"So you didn't grow up with all of them?" Sasuke said, his gaze flickering with concern to Naruto's tensed shoulders. He hoped the fox wasn't feeling upset by his questions.

"Nah, just those three. There were more of us at the agency, but they were sold before Akatsuki came to look at us," replied Naruto evasively, awkwardly shifting in his seat so his head was out the window a bit further. Since the moment he'd closed the door and inhaled, he'd been drowning in Sasuke's scent. When he'd first met Sasuke, he hadn't been so aware of it, but having spent the afternoon away from the scent, he was now hypersensitive to it.

Every shift of Sasuke's body, every time he licked his lips, or swallowed, Naruto could hear it and it made him want to rub himself across the dark haired man. His scent tickled his nose and overwhelmed everything else, making it hard for Naruto to even focus on the conversation.

After an eternity, or what felt like it, Sasuke dropped Naruto outside the front of the building with the key to his apartment while he went to park his car. Once inside the elevator, Naruto was given a brief respite from the assault on his nose. This, of course, ended when he walked into the apartment. His breathing was faster and his skin tingled with the need to shuck his clothes.

"Fuck!" he panted, heading for the cool sanctuary of the bathroom as he shucked his shirt. "Going into heat? This is more like being triple dosed with an aphrodisiac after you've abstained for six months." He never made it passed the dining room.

The elevator pinged again and Sasuke entered the apartment, dropping his coat and other effects into a small coatroom near the door. He stopped dead when a pair of arms slid around his middle, a face pressed to his back.

He could hear Naruto inhaling his scent, rubbing his face into Sasuke's lower back as he knelt behind him. Moving slowly, Sasuke rested his hands lightly on the hybrids arms feeling the heat of his skin. Trailing his fingertips over as much of the exposed skin as he could reach, he watched in fascination as gooseflesh was raised and the man behind him shuddered, squeezing his arms tighter.

Taking Sasuke's movements as permission, Naruto slid his chest along Sasuke's back, pressing his arousal against Sasuke's ass. A low-pitched growl vibrated in his throat and his tongue rasped over the pale skin on the nape of Sasuke's neck. Sasuke made a sound in the back of his throat; Naruto's tongue wasn't quite as soft as a human's but it felt unbelievably good.

Still moving slowly and without turning to look at the hybrids face, Sasuke took Naruto's hand and led him to the bedroom that Naruto had only yesterday been longing to go into. When they entered the room, Naruto did what he'd wanted to do since the day he'd arrived and climbed onto the king-sized double bed, rolling and basking in the scent.

When he looked up he saw Sasuke dropping his shirt to the floor, instantly followed by jeans, leaving him in nothing but navy blue boxer briefs. Naruto rushed to follow suit, accidentally popping the button off of his new denim jeans in his haste to remove them, before crawling onto the bed, tail swishing. Unlike Sasuke, he'd forgone underwear today and his arousal stood proud in Sasuke's presence.

Looking at the Naruto crawl onto the bed, muscles rippling, Sasuke swallowed audibly. He crossed the room and slid across the sheet until he was right next to the blonde. Realising they would need lube soon he turned over and crawled to his bedside draw, grabbing the bottle and promptly dropping it on the pillow when a single growl alerted him to Naruto's approach.

Hands gripped his wrists forcefully, rolling him to lay on his back, arms stretched above his head. Naruto lowered his face to Sasuke's, lips a hair's breadth apart. The feeling of Naruto's warm breath caressing his lips prodded Sasuke to action, suddenly ducking forwards to initiate what was possibly the most mind-blowing kiss of his life. Their tongues danced together, feeding the heat between them, as they probed and tasted each other. Sasuke had to gasp for air when the kiss ended, and hissed it back out almost instantly when Naruto's lips found the pulse at the juncture of his collarbone and throat.

A single stroke of the tongue over the throbbing spot and then Naruto's lips and teeth closed over the flesh, not gently but not roughly either, sucking at the pulse. His finger's circled Sasuke's nipple administering a light pinch that was coupled with a stinging sensation at his neck. Naruto pulled back and his red-flecked eyes looked down at the bite mark, tinged with a spot of blood and purred the only thing Sasuke had understood for the last five minutes. "Mine."

Naruto swiped his tongue over the mark once more before he roughly flipped Sasuke onto his stomach, the scent of Sasuke's desire fuelling his arousal so much so that he didn't quite know which way was up anymore. His skin burned, and his blood pumped fast and faster making him feel so alive. Though he couldn't vocalise what he wanted exactly, he knew that he wanted Sasuke, right here, right now, more than he'd ever wanted anything in his life. He wanted to own and be owned by the man beneath him.

Claw-like fingers wrenched at the thin material of Sasuke's underwear, tearing it but not removing it, and he made a frustrated noise. Sasuke reached back to calm Naruto's frenzied attempts, and soon realised that he was beyond calming and that his inner fox was in control. Tsunade had called him a few days ago to warn him this might happen, since Naruto had never experienced the heat before.

Shifting his leg to the right, he hooked it over Naruto's legs and in one smooth, well orchestrated movement, he rolled them until Naruto was pinned face down on the mattress. Naruto bucked against him, unable to comprehend what this change of position might mean, except for his inner fox to think that Sasuke might leave their desires unfulfilled.

Sasuke, mimicking Tsunade's actions of days prior, leaned down and sank his teeth into the nape of Naruto's neck, the blonde hair tickling his face. Naruto completely relaxed beneath him and for a second, Sasuke freaked out thinking that perhaps he'd hurt the hybrid. But a moment later, he realised that there was a faint but constant whine of desire coming from the blonde.

Removing the remains of his shredded underwear with one hand, he kept a constant grip on Naruto's neck with his teeth, using his other hand to balance him. Underwear gone, Sasuke reached for lube, popped the cap and aimed it as best he could into his hand. Using one knee to encourage the now tranquil fox to lift his hips, Sasuke slipped a hand between them and ran his fingers over the blonde's puckered entrance to spread the slippery liquid. He eased a finger into the tight opening to lubricate the inside a little, before removing the digit and generously coating his own member with cool liquid.

Finally, Sasuke shifted Naruto's tail so it rested to one side against his hip and pressed himself against to the small, pink opening and pushed himself in slowly, finally releasing Naruto's neck to bite his own lip. Naruto groaned with unrestrained pleasure; _this_ was what his body had been aching for all week, this was what his fox desired most entirely. The feel of Sasuke's hair brushing his back, the hiss of his pleasure as he entered that tight, hot place, the slick sweat where their heated bodies pressed together and the sweet ache of being filled made Naruto push back to meet Sasuke's first gentle thrust.

A week's worth of pent up lust, and Naruto wasn't in the mood for slow and gentle. Finally regaining his voice, he whispered hoarsely, "Oh god, Sasuke! H-harder…ugh…fill me, fuck me, screw me…", as he reached down to stroke the erection pressed against his stomach. His tail flicked against Sasuke's hip, the tip sometimes sweeping along Sasuke's exposed thigh and causing him to jerk forwards even deeper, the length of Sasuke's erection brushing long smooth lines of pleasure across his prostate.

Sasuke moaned, instantly picking up the pace. He thrust into Naruto hard, the slap of skin meeting skin throughout the room, their grunts and moans of pleasure mingling. Sasuke heard a sharp inhale and felt Naruto begin to tense before he groaned and shuddered, clamping down on Sasuke. Sasuke recognised the signs and plunged into Naruto a few more times finally breaking rhythm and finding his own toe-curling release. He slid out of Naruto and collapsed on top of the sweating, puffing, well-sated hybrid, unable to move, even if he'd wanted to.

Naruto shifted slightly so he could look up at Sasuke dreamily, eyes hooded and sleepy. "Best fuck of my life," he said completely unromantically, a mellow smile on his lips. Sasuke eventually managed to summon enough energy to pull the sheets up over them and promptly fell asleep.

x-x-x-x-x

Sasuke blinked awake, the glowing red numerals on the bedside clock informing him that time was twenty two past six in the morning. He still basked in the afterglow of his joining with Naruto, who was sprawled beside him, half of his ass and tail exposed. Staring at the handsome face, he watched as both ears and nose twitched while he dreamed. Hesitantly, Sasuke did something he'd wanted to do since he'd met Naruto and reached over, lightly touching the pointed fox ears. To his surprise the skin was thicker than he'd thought, but the fur itself was soft and silky, the hairs finer and shorter than those that adorned the fox's tail.

His lips quirked in a smile as he gently scratched below the ear. He was then forced to smother a snort when one of Naruto's legs began to twitch in time with his scratching, tail flicking. Apparently some animal traits you couldn't get rid of. He'd have to try that one while Naruto was awake sometime. Dark lashes lay against a rounded cheek and Sasuke could almost see the innocent joy that this man might once of had as a child, before his life as Naruto the hybrid began.

Shifting restlessly in bed, he became uncomfortably aware of the fluids that had stuck to both his body and sheets after they had passed out last night. Creeping out of the bed ever so carefully, trying not to wake the sleeping hybrid, Sasuke headed for his large glass shower stall. The still new taps turned silently and blessed hot – hot! – water pounded down on his back, reddening the skin. The water stung where it hit the bite mark from last night and Sasuke hissed.

"Sorry 'bout that," mumbled a sleepy eyed Naruto, peering around the door frame. Sasuke almost slipped over in his shock, not having heard the hybrid at all. Naruto, waking more by the second, eyed the soap bubbles sliding slowly down Sasuke's slick skin and grinned. It was big enough for two in there, right?

Sasuke raised an eyebrow as Naruto opened the door and stepped in behind him under the hot spray. Naruto planted a light kiss and a gentle lick on the bite mark. Sasuke looked over his shoulder with a smile. "Don't worry about it too much. I didn't raise any objections at the time; in fact, I think I quite enjoyed it." Turning to face Naruto, he watched as the fox reached around him for the bar of soap and then lathered himself up.

Leaning forward to let the water blast away the soap bubbles, Naruto sniffed. "You know, I spent ages trying to figure out what the smell was in this apartment that was driving me nuts, but it wasn't anything. It's just you, like your body's telling me that we are compatible. And when I'm near you, I can smell the blood being pumped through your veins, the life in you. It's so…addictive. I wish I could bottle it."

"Mmm, I have noticed you sniffing me and my stuff a lot," chuckled Sasuke, turning back to face the wall full of hygiene products.

He was reaching for the shampoo when he was halted by Naruto. "Sasuke," he murmured. "You're not very good at soaping, are you? You missed a bit." Pressing his soap slicked body to Sasuke's back, Naruto's hand travelled from his hip to his naval and then dropped lower, gentle strokes rousing his flaccid member to a fully hardened state.

Sasuke leaned forward, puffing slightly, using his forearms against the tiles to brace himself. Behind him, Naruto ground his own arousal against the cleft of Sasuke's ass. "Hmm, you like this right?" he teased, as the other hand came up to fondle his nipples, the nubs rising under his ministrations. "I need something to prepare you; I don't want this to hurt." Wordlessly, Sasuke passed back a new tube of lube.

Feeling Naruto's surprise, he looked over his shoulder, cheeks pink with the heat. "Tsunade told me to be prepared…there's pretty much a bottle in every room of the house at the moment." Naruto looked stunned and then he started to chuckle.

"You know, usually I don't give it up until after the first date," he said as he opened the lid of the lube. "Usually, there are some dates, some wooing, some…foreplay. I really wish we did that first, instead of my fox making me a beast entranced by lust. How do I know you even like me? Or vice versa?"

"We could stop now, and wait til we've dated before being physical…" said Sasuke, biting the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing or moaning as Naruto moved against him.

Naruto paused and frowned. "What man in his right mind would stop now? We'll just start the dating part tomorrow." Then Sasuke did start to laugh, then interrupted himself by sighing gently as Naruto probed his wrinkled opening with two lube drizzled fingers. Easing the digits in, Naruto rubbed in small circles, exploring Sasuke, until he got the reaction he was looking for. Sasuke jerked, arched and moaned against him. Naruto's tail swished happily at the sound, flicking water droplets across the tiles and glass.

After a few more seconds, Naruto turned Sasuke to face him, leaning him against the wall. Sliding his hands underneath Sasuke's thighs, he leaned forward to nibble on the parted lips presented to him. "There is one great benefit to being a hybrid, and it's that I can do this," he said, hoisting Sasuke up keeping their weight balanced. Sasuke's hands linked behind Naruto's neck and his head dropped forward onto the fox's shoulder.

Erect member set squarely against Sasuke's opening, appropriately lubricated, Naruto let gravity take care of the rest. Sasuke slid down an inch and there was a moment of pain as he felt himself stretch to accommodate Naruto's girth. After that moment, all he felt was satisfaction as he was filled, inch by tight, hot inch.

When Naruto eventually began to rock his hips forward at a steady pace, Sasuke couldn't help but whimper as felt he stirrings of that electric prickle across his skin. Letting one hand drop to his length, he stroked, and the wave of sensation began.

Unlike last night, there was no furious race to the finish line, just a slow and steady build-up of pleasure. When the wave of feeling finally broke over the two, Sasuke almost stopped breathing so strong was his release. Naruto's eyes rolled upwards and he shuddered, calling Sasuke's name. There joining this time was a gentle echo of the violent passion of last night.

Allowing Sasuke to stand and take his own weight, Naruto confessed, "I don't know if I can wait 'til after our first date to do that again." Both of the men chuckled, though neither had much energy to spare but there was a whole day together to look forward to, and maybe more.

x-x-x-x-x

A week later, Sasuke sat in his office, eyes closed, muscle in his cheek twitching. He had to make this call. But he didn't want to make this call. But he had to. But the bastard would just- No. He cut off those thoughts. I won't let him get to me. Picking up the phone he dialled and let it ring, praying for the machine to pick up instead.

"Hello, little brother," Itachi said cheerfully. "Isn't caller ID a wonderful thing? Anyway, my sources tell me your hybrid went into heat for you! Have you fuc-"

"Itachi," Sasuke interrupted, removing his reading glasses and pinching the bridge of his nose. "Let's not go there. I'm calling about a few ideas I have regarding the business."

"Oh? Would that be the business of bending him over your desk and-"

"ITACHI! FOR GOD'S SAKE, CAN YOU CUT IT OUT!" Sasuke yelled, his short tether finally snapping.

"Fine, fine. Geez, I remember the days when you worshiped me," Itachi grumbled, tone settling back into neutral and professional. "Well, I'll listen to your ideas. But _only_ if you listen to my story about this hybrid I met on the weekend, he had the biggest-"

_Beeep. Beeep._

"Hello? Sasuke?"

Sasuke popped an ibuprofen and had just swallowed it when his cell phone buzzed. Plucking it from his pocket, he took one look at the message and threw it at the wall, feeling immense satisfaction as it shattered.

_We must have lost our connection. Oh well, Mom's inviting us for dinner next weekend, so I'll tell you about it then. By the way, I told her about your new hinky-kinky and she would LOVE to meet him. Talk soon. ~Tachi._

x-x-x-x-x

A/N:

Hey guys,

So yeah. What to say? So many of you asked why I said this was only going to be a two part story… Well, honestly? I didn't think people would enjoy it at all; I was mostly writing it for fun as a break from MTW. Then there was this crazy massive response and I was shocked. So thank you all ^_^ Depending on the response to part two, I may continue and write some more, but we'll see.

Second item I need to say that some reviewers asked questions about stuff that was waaaay out of the field for what I had in mind for this story, so I really hope you aren't too disappointing, but this was always where it was going to end up xD

Third (and most important) item, I got a mouth-wateringly brilliant giftart for SOMH from the amazingly talented littletrinks (y!gal) and I think you should all go see, love, applaud and drool because omg *HOT* Sasu in a suit and *WILD* Naru with a tail!

To see it, just go here (without the spaces, of course!):

http : / / yaoi . y-gallery . net / view / 777078/

Thanks for reading, please review if you have time!

~dusk. xo


	3. Chapter 3

**Description**: When a situation leads Sasuke to bring home Naruto, a fox hybrid who has a thing for his scent, what will ensue?

**Pairing/s**: SasuNaru/NaruSasu, KakaIta

**Warnings**: Explicit adult content; hybrid!Naruto; yaoi (malexmale); light bondage/spanking. If this will offend you, do not read.

**Disclaimer**: The _Naruto_ world belongs to Kishimoto. I do not make a profit from this FanFic.

x-x-x-x-x

Scent Of My Heart – Part 3

"Hello?" said Sasuke, managing to answer on the second ring. His eyes were still focused on the spreadsheet in front of him, new ideas spinning through his mind. The thoughts came to an abrupt halt as he recognised the soft, sweet voice on the line as his mother's.

"Sasuke? Why haven't I been able to get through to you on your cell phone? I've been trying to call you since yesterday."

"Uh…I dropped my cell phone the other day," Sasuke lied, glancing at the shattered phone in his open desk drawer. "I have a new phone arriving some time later today, so you'll be able to reach me via cell phone again soon."

"Ah, I see. Well, I was talking to Itachi on the phone a few days ago and he told me that you invited someone to move in with you. I must admit, I was a little hurt to find out that you asked him to move in without at least introducing him to us first," she said, a little reproachfulness entering her voice.

"Mom, I did _not_ invite someone to move in with me…at least not in the way you mean. It was actually due to some bad circumstances that were going on at work and… Anyway, you'll meet him on Saturday at dinner, right? Itachi said that you've invited us over for dinner." Sasuke tried to keep the tinge of annoyance from his voice. Now, because of Itachi, his parents thought he was hiding something.

"Oh, so he did tell you. I wondered if he would remember… Speaking of dinner, I was calling to tell you to come up for the weekend instead. Driving three hours here and three hours home just for dinner is ridiculous, and we'll barely get a chance to meet…" She hesitated, and Sasuke realised he hadn't even given her Naruto's name yet.

"Ah, Naruto. His name is Naruto. Mom…I'm not sure we can stay the weekend. It's pretty busy here and that's a pretty long drive on a Friday night," he hedged, while thinking to himself that it could also be an incredibly awkward weekend if everyone didn't get along.

"Sasuke, it'll be _fine_. You and Itachi have the beach cottages, so it's not like you'll be stuck with us all weekend. Plus, I know that you're working yourself too hard. Consider this a break. Just this one time, for your dear old mom. Please?" she wheedled, knowing exactly how to push her sons' buttons.

"Mom, please," Sasuke said, rolling his eyes. "You're not old. Look, I can't guarantee anything, but I'll talk to Naruto about it and if he says yes, then we'll stay for the weekend."

"Good! Now, you have to excuse me because I want to get started on all the cooking for your visit!" Mikoto sounded happy, so Sasuke put aside his misgiving about Itachi's spilling of the beans.

"Okay…well, I guess you'll see me tomorrow night then." His mother made a quick reply and he was listening to the dial tone before he could add anything else. Sighing he hung up, resting his head on the desk for a moment before calling Shizune and asking her to send an email about the coming weekend to Naruto.

x-x-x-x-x

Naruto sat at a small desk in the call centre, transcribing customer service calls for 'future training purposes', as the people on the line were told. It had been an interesting week and hard week.

Exactly a week ago, on the second of Sasuke's days off, they had done exactly as Sasuke had planned. Opening a bank account in Naruto's name turned out to be more difficult than anticipated, as he lacked the identification that humans inevitably picked up in routine parts of life. Eventually, Sasuke had worn down the poor banking employee (through sheer force of will, it seemed to Naruto) and an account had been opened for Naruto, though it was linked to Sasuke's, at least for the time being. The car ride had been pretty quiet after the trip to the bank.

"You know, you didn't have to get me the bank account," Naruto ventured, correctly guessing the source of Sasuke's irritation. "Hybrids are used to not having one. Usually any money we spend comes from our owner's pocket."

"I know, I know," Sasuke snapped. "But I don't want to be your owner; I want you to have some freedom. That means you need your own money, and your own account. If you one day decide to go to Tsunade's because you no longer want to stay with me, you shouldn't be tethered by an account."

Naruto looked faintly amused at what he considered to be Sasuke's naiveté . "You think of us as equivalent. This is the way things are; hybrids aren't considered human, and you just have to learn to accept it."

"Hn," Sasuke grunted, barely acknowledging the statement. By the time they made it home, Sasuke's annoyance had diminished and he'd marched into his room purposefully, going straight over to the walk-in-robe, opening the doors and staring contemplatively at the contents. Naruto sidled up behind him, discreetly (or so he believed) sniffing Sasuke's neck, Sasuke shivered briefly as the warm air shifted his hair slightly at the nape of his neck. Moving forward a little, ignoring Naruto's looming presence behind him, he plucked out a pale blue dress shirt, black vest and suit, pursing his lips. With a nod to himself, he turned and pressed the suit into Naruto's arms.

"Wear this," he said, before marching out of the room. He returned a minute or so later with a pair of dress shoes that had been kept in immaculate condition, eyeing Naruto with satisfaction. Naruto had managed to finish getting dressed after adding a hole to the trousers for his furry tail. He was currently standing in front of the floor length mirror that Sasuke had in the corner looking very perplexed as he tried, unsuccessfully, to knot the plaid charcoal grey tie properly.

Sitting the shoes on the small table near the door, Sasuke leaned against the door frame with his arms crossed and a small smirk adorning his lips. He remained silent for a moment, observing Naruto's struggles.

"You know, I can smell you over there… Come and help me with this, instead of just standing there and watching me, you jerk," Naruto said, frustration colouring his tone as he glared at the tie in the mirror before giving up and letting it hang loosely around his neck.

Sasuke, still smirking, uncrossed his arms and went to stand in front of Naruto, fingers deftly creating the knot and tightening it to fit the collar snugly. "I thought you knew how to knot a tie…you were wearing one when you came into the kitchen after I gave you the new clothes the other day, right?" Stepping back to briefly admire his handy work, the corner of his mouth twitched upwards in a satisfied smile which disappeared so fast that it left Naruto wondering whether he'd imagined it.

Snorting, Naruto spied the shoes on the bed and quickly went to add them to his ensemble. "Nah, I didn't tie that. I was trying to impress you so I just borrowed one from your wardrobe. You have a whole coat hanger dedicated to holding pre-tied ties," he said, his tone making it clear that he thought that that level of organisation was nuts. Once the shoes were laced, he came to stand in front of the mirror once more, admiring his reflection. Despite the ears and tail, he looked well-dressed and professional.

Sasuke gave him once last look over before heading out the door and towards the lift. "Okay, now that you are suitably dressed, let's go to ACE so you can get started at your new job."

A short car ride later, they arrived at an impressively modern three story building, the silver lettering above the entrance identifying it as _Always Classy Entertainment Management, Inc._ Naruto tried not to look too wide-eyed as they entered a softly lit and expensive looking lobby. Behind a desk, there was an attractive pink-haired lady, whose job it was to take calls and direct them to which ever department was necessary.

"One moment, sir, I'll just transfer you to the Event Planning department. Please stay on the line," she said professionally, before hitting a few buttons to follow through with the transfer. Hanging the phone up, a somewhat shy smile crossed her face as she noticed Sasuke coming towards her. She greatly admired him, and happened to think he looked cute when he donned the reading glasses that he so rarely wore in public. It was a compliment to her professionalism when her eyebrows only bounced upwards minutely, the smile never wavering, when she caught sight of the fox hybrid following her employer. "Good afternoon, sir," she said, dipping her head slightly.

"Hello, Miss Haruno," said Sasuke, glancing at his watch. "Do you know if Gai is working the customer service phones today?" He winced slightly when he thought about the competent, if slightly over enthusiastic, head of the customer service department. Unlike Sasuke, Gai and his assistant Lee loved to interact with the customers and were highly skilled at getting even the angriest of customers to back down. Though he didn't dislike them, he found that extended periods of time in their cheerful company left him needing ibuprofen and a sound-proofed room.

"I'll just check for you," she replied, clicking away at the keyboard before putting through a call to the department. After a few exchanged words, she thanked the person on the line and hung up. "He's currently on the floor with the call centre staff, though he's scheduled to go into a meeting in twenty-five minutes." After a brief nod in her direction, and Sasuke was headed for the lifts, Naruto following in his wake.

Following Sasuke through the various departments and offices, for the first time, he had the opportunity to observe Sasuke in a professional setting. It was apparent that Sasuke was well regarded by his colleagues. Their high opinion of Sasuke didn't mask their curiosity about Naruto though, and Naruto was aware that every now and again a head would turn to stare for a moment before quickly turning away so as not to be caught. Being a hybrid, he was more than used to attracting some sort of attention, so it didn't bother him, though their level of curiosity did leave him wondering if people in the 'real world' were less exposed to hybrids than he'd believed.

After climbing another set of stairs, bringing them to the third level, they finally arrived at a door with a simple plaque reading _Vice President Sasuke Uchiha_. When they entered the small reception area where Sasuke's assistant usually worked, the first thing that struck Naruto was the distinct scent of a hybrid which lingered in the office. He inhaled deeply and after a moment of contemplation, he smiled in satisfaction when he identified the scent as panther.

"What do you smell?" Sasuke asked, curiosity getting the better of him. Having already been intrigued about the hybrid's apparent need to scent the air all the time, he'd noticed Naruto's reaction to the room right away.

"Your assistant is a hybrid," Naruto replied, his nose still twitching. He saw Sasuke's eyebrows go up and grinned. "Must be another one like Tsunade. Very human."

Sasuke forced himself to lower his eyebrows. Once again, someone he'd known for quite a long time had turned out to be related to this secret world of hybridity; leaving him to wonder who else in his life could be hiding this kind of secret. Forcing himself to ignore the surprise at this newest revelation, he waved his hand dismissively, and said, "Never mind that, we have other important things to be going on with." He pushed open a door to the right of the reception area and indicated that Naruto should enter his office.

Naruto shrugged and stepped through the door into the room, noting with interest its unusual circular shape. Clasping his hands behind his back, he strolled over to the photos of Sasuke and his family, before turning to find Sasuke watching him. "So…what do you want me to do?"

Sasuke crossed to a small storage and supplies closet, pulling out a barely used laptop and placing it at a small desk that Naruto hadn't even noticed when he entered. After pushing an office chair over to the desk, and rolling his own very comfortable reclinable computer chair over to the desk as well, he beckoned with an impatient hand, indicating that Naruto should sit down.

Naruto watched curiously as Sasuke switched it on and logged into the system, pulling a pair of head phones from his pocket. Sasuke leaned forward, squinting at the screen for a moment before sighing and pulling a pair of reading glasses from his pocket. He slid them into place, his dark bangs slipping forward to lay against his cheek. Naruto swallowed, thinking that Sasuke looked very mature and handsome in his glasses, and with the contrast between his pale skin and that dark hair…

"…ruto? Naruto, are you even paying attention?" Sasuke's voice broke his train of thought.

"Huh? Uh, yeah, sorry," he said with a grin and a shrug, settling himself back in the seat and focusing his full attention on Sasuke's words.

"So, anyway, as I was explaining to you, ACE has a few different departments set up to handle different tasks. The group you saw at the Hyuga estate are one of our specialised teams whose job it is to handle high profile clients. They perform a wide range of duties; they can be hired to clean up after the wealthy – usually nothing illegal, but mostly things that would cause scandals in the media, they can be hired to act as bodyguards and surveillance during events that clients are attending and they can be hired to investigate things like blackmail threats.

On the other side of the fence from our protective services, normal teams of ACE employees can be hired simply as event planners, or used to organise supplies and suppliers for an event, as an after-event cleaning service, as a chauffeuring service, as a sober driver service and, of course, as ordinary caterers and waiters." Sasuke looked at Naruto to make sure he was paying attention this time. "Of course, there are also a range of duties performed here at the head office, too."

"More? Such as?" Naruto was surprised by the extent of the duties of organisation. He'd never heard of them before, not even while Akatsuki Entertainment had had him.

"Well, there are our customer service telephone operators. They deal with assigning the appropriate teams to whatever jobs are called in. There's the problem management service – all customers who have a problem are put through to that sector," Sasuke suddenly smirked. "It's kind of an in joke, but if you look at their initials, they are the PMS sector, dealing with irate clients." Naruto chuckled appreciatively, before Sasuke started up again. "Then there are the managers of each section who deal with budgeting, suppliers, transport organisation and that kind of thing. We also have our receptionists and assistants, even some people employed to do building maintenance."

"I had no idea you were working for such a big organisation," said Naruto, impressed. "For such a big company, I can't believe I've never heard of it before."

"Ah, well. When Itachi took over from my parents eleven years ago, ACE was actually a small business, mostly operating on a local scale doing catering and events organising. But, Itachi has always been driven, and once he decided to expand the business, it just took off. I started working here nine years ago, and sometimes even I can't believe how far the business has come." Sasuke glanced up at the clock and realised that they had already been sitting here for almost half an hour. "Anyway, I think that's enough of a history lesson for one day. You said you were okay when it came to transcribing duties, right?"

"Yeah… I haven't had a lot of experience in a work place setting, but I think I can pick it up pretty fast if you want me to." Naruto's voice was filled with determination; being presented with the opportunity to do something other than fight other hybrids was a relief.

"Well, I don't think this will be your position for long, since I have some other ideas to talk to Itachi about, but it's a good place to start and you'll get to know more about the company. For the time being, all you have to do is monitor the calls that Sakura puts through on your line and transcribe them. Tomorrow, I'll set up a cubicle for you in Guy's department. Here," said Sasuke as he reached across to settle the headset somewhat awkwardly over Naruto's ears. When his fingers lightly brushed over one ear, Sasuke felt a little swell of satisfaction when Naruto unconsciously leaned his head into the touch, his tail swaying slightly behind him.

x-x-x-x-x

It had been almost a week since the day that Sasuke had first brought him in, and Naruto had learned quite a lot about the business in that short amount of time. The most interesting part had been meeting and getting to know people who weren't in the hybrid industry. Starting in Gai's department had been a learning experience for everyone. He'd soon found that his interactions with Akatsuki and wealthy clientele were vastly different to the ones he had with ordinary, everyday, working people. Inevitably, there had been one or two employees who'd had negative reactions to the presence of a hybrid in their work space, but for the most part, the rest of the employees extended a cautious welcome which turned into shy overtures of friendship after a few days.

Working steadily at transcribing the calls that Sakura patched through to him, Naruto began to yawn surreptitiously as the calls dwindled and they hit the slow patch of the day. Everyone else seemed to have paperwork to go on with, and not wanting to disturb them, he remained in his chair, bored. There was a high pitched _ping!_ through the headphones as the computer alerted him to two new emails, which Naruto practically pounced on.

The first was from Tsunade, and his heart sank, heavy with disappointment when he found yet another message telling him that the recent lead she had been following hadn't turned up Gaara. He and Tsunade talked frequently, and Sasuke had hesitantly encouraged him to get involved with Tsunade. It turned out to have been a really good idea, allowing Naruto to have contact with other hybrids while he tried to settle into a new life with Sasuke.

The second email was unexpected, enough so that it moved his depression over the failed search for his friend to curiosity. It was from Sasuke; which was unusual because Sasuke rarely contacted him by email, preferring to wait until they were back at the apartment and just talk about how things were going.

Reading the email twice, Naruto felt surprised when his heart began to beat a little faster in anticipation of being introduced to Sasuke's parents. He'd never met _any_ parents before, let alone the been introduced to his new, dare he say it, boyfriend's parents. His heart gave a sharp throb when he thought of the possibility of their rejection, before he gave himself a mental slap. What was he thinking? He was a hybrid. He was _used_ to rejection by the 'normal' people in society. He typed a few quick lines agreeing to go to the Uchiha residence for the weekend, then went back to aimlessly staring at his screen while he waited for a call to come through.

There was a brief trill before someone in customer service answered the call, and Naruto was straight back into transcribing, noticing that apparently the slow period had ended as other people in the department started answering ringing phones.

x-x-x-x-x

Friday afternoon came quickly, and by three, Naruto was finished for the day. He made a quick trip to Sasuke's office, where Shizune had let him know that Sasuke still had three meetings lined up and was unlikely to finish before five. After thinking about it for a moment, he scribbled a quick note for Shizune to give to Sasuke and headed down to the bus stop that was conveniently located at the front of the building.

The old bus rolled to a stop and the doors hissed open to allow a small flock of people off, at least four of them belonging to ACE. Naruto looked around and noticed that he seemed to be the only person getting on, so he stepped up, swiping his ticket methodically and taking a seat near the front of the bus just as Sasuke had shown him last week. His fascination with the way humans interacted hadn't diminished, and he peered out the windows utterly enthralled, barely noticing as the bus stopped to let passengers on and off.

His attention to the outside world, however, was broken when he felt a sharp yank on his tail. He spun in his seat, ready to growl at whomever was displaying their dislike for the hybrid species in such a childish way. He was surprised to find that the culprit actually was a child, and one who appeared to be as fascinated with the hybrid as he was with the humans. A little girl, who could be no more than three years of age, stood on the seat behind him with his tail, which had slipped through the gap in the seat, clasped in her chubby fingers.

She gave another experimental tug and giggled in delight when Naruto flicked the white tip gently across her chin. He grinned over at her, wiggling his ears back and forth, his smiling swelling when he got another giggle.

"Perty kitty!" she smiled, letting go of his tail with one hand in order to pet it. She was too adorable to correct, so Naruto just smiled back, letting her stroke his tail. A few seconds later, the little girl was snatched up by a harried looking woman who could only be her mother.

"Aine! Don't just wonder off like that! And what are you touching? You don't know where that _thing_ might have been!" Her words attracted the attention of the other passengers, turning to see what was causing the exclamation of disgust. Sending a glare in Naruto's direction, she bustled back to the seat where she'd left her shopping, leaving him feeling like he'd been slapped in the face, his cheeks blushing red. It was a great relief when the bus rumbled up to his stop ten minutes later, and he felt like he couldn't get out of there fast enough.

As he stepped off, he noticed that a little old woman who had been seated a few seats behind him was also exiting the bus, grasping the handrail tightly as she headed towards the door. With a sigh and the expectation of rejection, he stepped back over to the door and offered his hand to help her down the steep step. He was thoroughly surprised when a wrinkled hand gripped his own tightly as its owner stepped heavily down from the bus.

"Thank you, young man," she said, letting go of his hand as the doors hissed closed once again, both of them watching the bus pull away from the curb.

"Er, you're welcome…" Naruto replied, watching as she gathered her bags to her.

"You shouldn't worry about that lady," said the old woman as she start to walk down the street in the same direction as Naruto.

He raised an eyebrow curiously, but said nothing, holding out a hand in an offer to carry her bags. She passed him three of the heavier shopping bags, keeping the smaller ones for herself.

"There are a lot of people like her; she fears what she doesn't understand, and she doesn't understand how a hybrid can be human. Not that it makes her actions any less rude and hurtful, but if it makes you feel any better, most of the people on the bus were more disgusted that she let her little girl wander off unsupervised where she could have been snatched away by a real predator." The woman was staring straight ahead as she spoke, and Naruto couldn't keep a small smile from forming as he began to understand that she was trying her best to show her support to him, despite the fact that he was a stranger and a hybrid, no less.

She came to an abrupt halt outside a tiny, terraced house, a mere block away from the ACE employee apartment building. Holding out her hand she gave a small smile as she accepted back the bags he had been carrying for her. They stared at each other silently for a moment.

"Thanks," said Naruto finally, unable to think of any other way to express his gratitude. She ducked her head and gave a smile before turning and heading up the stairs to her building. Naruto watched until she was safely inside the door, then kept walking onwards to Sasuke's apartment.

In the lobby he placed a quick phone call to Tsunade, who let him know that the call out that they'd had had led to a family of racoon hybrids hiding in a secluded cabin in the mountains that was only used for a holiday house. Much to his surprise, and Tsunade's, they had found that two hybrids that had children together produced normal looking hybrid children; no more or less human than their parents. It was the first time either of them had ever heard of two hybrids starting a family together, and despite his sadness at not locating his tanuki friend, he was glad that they had at least been able to help a family that had been in a difficult situation. After the call, he quickly entered the elevator and hit the close door button before any of the ACE employees could get on and ogle him.

When the elevator stopped at the right floor, he stepped off, was hit by the familiar wall of smell that always greeted him. While it was not as overwhelming as before he'd slept with Sasuke, it was still intensely sensual and unique, leaving him feeling like he couldn't get enough.

After changing into a pair of black sweats and a grey tank top, Naruto stood in front of his own wardrobe considering his options for this weekend. Grabbing whichever items he felt would be appropriate for a weekend with Sasuke's parents, he folded the clothes neatly, sitting them in piles on the bed. Scratching his ear, he tried to remember where Sasuke had said the spare suitcase was. To his own pleasure, he was fairly certain that it was in Sasuke's wardrobe.

Entering Sasuke's bedroom when he wasn't home always felt a little like he was breaking the rules, and he always took a silent pleasure I doing so. Crossing directly to the wardrobe, he opened the doors, closed his eyes and inhaled deeply as his sense of smell was flooded with Sasuke's odour. He hesitantly took one step forward, and then another, and before he knew it, he was pressed up against the rack of clothes, his nose buried in the fabric.

Naruto's tale swished enthusiastically as he rubbed his face along the clothes of his lover, drinking in the scent. A quick glance at the bedside clock told him that it would still be an hour or two before Sasuke returned. Turning to look at the clothes again, he chewed on his lower lip for a moment, before finally deciding to give in to the urge he'd had since the day he'd arrived here. After one final guilty glance towards the door, Naruto grabbed as many of the clothes in front of him as he could, and threw them on the bed, making two more trips back to the wardrobe until almost the entire contents of Sasuke's wardrobe was heaped on the massive bed.

Naruto eyed the giant pile of clothes for a few seconds, before springing across the room and landing atop the pile. Pressing himself down into the pile, he breathed in deeply. Wrapped in the sensual scent of his lover, Naruto was in ecstasy, his senses heightened. After taking one final moment to sit up and strip off his tank top, he dropped back into the pile of clothes and writhed against them, enjoying the feel of the cool, expensive fabrics sliding over his bare skin, Sasuke's scent coating him.

Whilst for the most part Naruto was simply enjoying being surrounded by the scent that permeated his brain and heart, a small part inside Naruto that he was rarely even aware of was practically purring in satisfaction. That small, possessive part of him was glad that they had finally taken steps to mark Sasuke as his. For a whole quarter of an hour, he basked in the pile of clothes, drinking in their scent.

When he finally walked away from the bed, his gait was unsteady and his eyes were slightly unfocused, and he leaned against the door frame breathing deeply and trying to recollect himself. Once he started to come down from the high of coating himself in Sasuke's scent, he gathered up the clothes strewn across the bed, and now floor, carefully rehanging them in the wardrobe and shrugging his tank top back on. The few that he thought were too noticeably rumpled to rehang, he laid out on the bed to send out for cleaning, hoping that Sasuke wouldn't notice that he was missing some clothes.

After he'd finished packing his bag and cleaning up Sasuke's clothes, Naruto paused for a moment before heading to the couch in the living room that was set in a spot that caught the afternoon sun through the large tinted window.

x-x-x-x-x

Sasuke let out a relieved sigh as the client from his final meeting left the building, letting his head fall forward to rest on his fists. That last meeting had seemed never ending, the client a particularly rich and fussy man who had nothing better to do that nitpick about the decisions the ACE staff were making. A complaint from the team manager and a phone call from Itachi, and the result left Sasuke in the position of acting team leader for the duration of the charity event that was being organised in addition to his normal workload and duties.

Standing and stretching, Sasuke winced as his joints popped and the muscles in his back ached in protest from too much time spent sitting down. When his watch beeped to tell him that it was already five o'clock, he buzzed through to Shizune, telling her to head home while he locked up.

Twenty minutes later, he stood in the empty lift on his way up to his apartment, tugging his tie from around his neck and shrugging off his suit jacket, waiting for the pinging sound that indicated he'd reached the twenty-first floor. Stepping off of the lift, he closed his eyes and took a moment to let himself relax now that he was away from the confines of his office, before hanging his jacket in the coatroom by the lift.

Thinking about what he would need to pack for the trip to see his parents, he headed for his bedroom and stopped dead in the living room when the image of Naruto lounging in the fading sunlight registered in his mind. The blonde hair glimmered in the orange glow, ears and tails twitching. Predatory eyes slid over Sasuke's still crisp shirt, taking in the loosened tie and collar, and the pale flash of exposed neck, and Sasuke couldn't prevent the wave of desire that flooded him as he felt Naruto's gaze.

Naruto's nose twitched and he abruptly moved from sitting to standing, the movement so fluid and fast that Sasuke's mind almost didn't process it. As the hybrid stalked towards him, Sasuke couldn't help but give an anticipatory shiver.

"Saaasuke," Naruto said, his low and rumbling voice drawing out the name, his body stopping when there was but an inch of space between them. Inhaling, the tip of his nose brushed Sasuke's cheek and his pupils were fully dilated in the fading light. "You smell so good…and I can hear your heart racing. Do you want me? Hmmm?" His voice lowered to a whisper. "'Cause I want you, Sasuke."

Naruto circled Sasuke, pressing himself against the ebony haired man's back, sliding his hands over Sasuke's hips, the sharp claw-like nails digging into the soft flesh there. Sasuke swallowed, his Adam's apple shifting, and Naruto leaned forward, tracing the tip if his tongue against the pink shell of Sasuke's ear. Sasuke suppressed another shiver, his eyes fluttering closed as he felt the warm, damp heat of the blonde hybrid's breath ghosting over the exposed skin of his neck.

Naruto's lips brushed feather light across his neck in a barely perceptible kiss, before his touch became more demanding, lips parting. His pointed canines rasped over the sensitive skin causing Sasuke to let loose a whimper which turned into a low moan when Naruto bit down lightly. Sucking on the sensitive flesh grasped between his teeth, though he managed not to break the skin this time, Naruto could still almost taste the coppery taint of blood just beneath the surface, and a growl rumbled through him possessively.

Sasuke allowed his head to drop back onto Naruto's shoulder with a sigh, a smile briefly passing over his lips when the hybrid tilted his head to rub a thick, furred ear against his cheek. He felt a tug at his fly before the zip lowered smoothly and a firm hand popped the button free of its hole. Fingertips traced light circular patterns across the skin above the waistband of his navy blue boxer briefs before the material slid down to expose his arousal.

Sasuke could feel evidence of Naruto's own aroused state pressed to the still clothed, toned curve of his ass. Naruto's hand slid down to grip Sasuke's erection, using the pre-come that had already dribbled from the tip as lubricant and began to stroke his length firmly, delighting in the feel of Sasuke pressing back into him, in hearing the rhythmic pants of his partner. His free hand found Sasuke's hardened nipple beneath the thin fabric of the designer shirt and he pinched it, rolling it between his fingertips, just hard enough to make Sasuke jerk against him and whimper with pleasure.

Naruto worked Sasuke with a slow and steady rhythm, until sweat beaded on the pale brow of the dark haired man and his hips began to shift in time with the movements of Naruto's hand. When Sasuke began to feel the familiar bubble of ecstasy swell, he stopped Naruto's movements and turned to face the blonde, levering him forward to kiss his lips hungrily.

"Can't have you missing out, can we?" he said with a smirk, slipping his thumbs into the waistband of the black sweats and pulling them down in one smooth motion as he went to his knees before the hybrid, noting the excited twitching of the bushy tail that he glimpsed between toned, muscular legs. Taking Naruto's swollen member in hand, Sasuke's eyes travelled upwards until they met with Naruto's, and after a delicate stroke of the tongue along the shaft, he slid the organ into his mouth, using a skilled tongue and lips to draw a long moan from the blonde.

As he bobbed his head along Naruto's length, he felt the fingers that ran through his hair clench and unclench with waves of pleasure, and could see Naruto's lips part as his breathing quickened. Withdrawing from Naruto, he let his hand take over where his mouth left off, his saliva an excellent lubricant, while he used his other hand to stimulate his own arousal. His mind played over his encounters with Naruto in bed over the past week, thinking of the blonde's enjoyment of biting his neck, he wondered if Naruto would enjoy the same treatment elsewhere, since biting the hybrid fox on the neck appeared to pacify rather than stimulate him.

Deciding to put it to the test, Sasuke traced wet circles from Naruto's hip to his groin with his tongue, before placing a few light kisses high on the fox's inner thigh. Rolling his eyes up to watch Naruto's expression, he clamped his teeth down as hard as he dared without breaking the skin, and shivered when Naruto gave a drawn out whimper and shudder, his hips jerking eagerly. If the noises Naruto made weren't enough of an indication, the expression on his face certainly was. His eyes were closed and his lower lip trembled as if the pleasure was almost too much for him.

"Sasuke…" Naruto whispered breathily.

Sasuke felt a jerk of pleasure in his own lower region and stood quickly, balling his hands in Naruto's tank top, forcing him to lean inwards to lock lips. Lowering a hand back to the erection prodding his stomach, Sasuke brought his own length up against Naruto's wrapping his fingers around both and stroking them together, his hips jerking minutely as he felt the pangs of pleasure igniting once again.

Naruto's hand settled over Sasuke's, tightening their grips and a moan left his lips, his head falling forward until his forehead rested against Sasuke's, their sweat mingling.

Sasuke felt himself getting close to the edge, and knew that Naruto wasn't quite there. He trembled, and hoping to bring Naruto to the final stages of pleasure, he dropped his head to one side and sank his teeth into the bronzed flesh of Naruto's exposed shoulder. Naruto cried out, his hips jerked and his fingers tightened causing Sasuke to gasp, and then moan as the hot seed of their pleasure splashed across their shirts and intertwined hands.

Leaning against each other, panting, they said nothing for a moment. Eventually, Sasuke managed to catch his breath, looking down.

"Well…after the spontaneous onset of this encounter, my suit may need burning," he said dryly, the upturned corner of his mouth indicating that he wasn't mad. "Not that I care, of course, though I think I'd rather not explain to my dry cleaner how I got these stains."

Naruto chuckled, his cheeks turning pink when he realised that in his rush, neither man had managed to get undressed – Sasuke's pants were around his thighs and Naruto's sweats were pooled at his ankles. "I, uh, I didn't intend to jump you…"

Curious, Sasuke slid his pants the rest of the way off of his legs and stepped out of them, Naruto following suit before they headed towards Sasuke's en suite. "Always nice to know I'm irresistible. So, why _were_ you so turned on when I got home? Was it the heat again?"

Shaking his head, even more embarrassed now, Naruto looked at the wall. "Not exactly. I was... I guess you could say, somewhat…drunk. Er, on your scent. From when I was in your room with all of your— When I moved your— When I went to get the suitcase for this weekend," he finished lamely, still not making eye contact with the curious Uchiha.

Sasuke made a mental note to review the security footage from his bedroom on Monday. Judging by Naruto's response to the question and his…eager greeting upon arriving home, he was willing to wager it would be worth it to see what the whole story was.

x-x-x-x-x

There was only twenty minutes left until they would arrive at Sasuke's parents place, and though they'd been in the car for almost three hours, Naruto still watched the landscape avidly out of the window, having never been more than thirty minutes out from the city in his whole life. His tail flicked rapidly, especially when he caught glimpses of the ocean between the trees.

Sasuke, on the other hand, shifted between feeling amused at Naruto's attempts at subtle excitement, and feeling tense about the upcoming introductions and a weekend with his brother. He had to force himself to relax the muscles in his shoulders, the tension making them creep higher.

Soon, they pulled into the long driveway that led to the secluded beachfront property owned by his parents, and nearby, two holiday houses owned by himself and Itachi. When he pulled up, he saw Itachi's car parked near the garage and automatically scowled. He put the car into park, flicked the engine off, and took a deep breath, using the moment of quiet to wipe the scowl from his face and replace it with a neutral expression.

Naruto watched his face silently, and followed his lead when he hopped out of the car and headed for the front door, pulling a key from his pocket and unlocking the door without hesitation. When Sasuke entered kitchen, Naruto lagged behind in the hallway, feeling awkward in a stranger's home.

"Mom?" Sasuke called tentatively.

"Lounge room, dear," Mikoto called softly from the other room, though he could hear her footsteps approaching from the hallway at the other end of the kitchen. When she reached the kitchen, she flung her arms around Sasuke's shoulders, though he was half a head taller than her. Leaning back, she looked up into his face. "You're looking well. Nice to see you're not overworking yourself for a change." She peered around him, trying to see the guest he'd bought with him. "Sasuke? Are you going to introduce me…?"

With a sigh and a roll of the eyes, Sasuke flicked a glance over his shoulder and finally noticed that the fox hadn't followed him into the room. He walked back into the foyer and grasped Naruto by the hand, giving a rare smile of encouragement before tugging the reluctant hybrid into the kitchen.

Naruto entered the kitchen as though he were trying to hide in Sasuke's shadow. His ears drooped downwards and his tail was limp, wrapped loosely around his left ankle. His normally confident and blunt demeanour was muffled in the face of meeting someone he wanted to make a good impression on, and his free hand strayed upwards to tug his shirt straighter.

Mikoto's eyes were round and her pretty mouth was a circle of surprise. "Oh! He…he's a hybrid! Sasuke, you didn't tell me he was a… Ah, I'm sorry, please don't think me impolite, I just wasn't expecting…" she babbled, offering her hand to Naruto to shake.

Sasuke's cheeks flushed a bright red. "I thought Itachi had told you already?"

"Uh, no, he only said that you had taken on a new lover and were living together, but he never mentioned that it was… he was… I mean, your father and I are fine with it, of course, as long as you're happy, it just comes as a surprise…" She trailed off, and looked at Naruto's ears with fascination, her fingers twitching with the desire to reach out and touch them. "May I…?"

Naruto started when he realised she was eyeing his ears, and the tension in his body melted when he realised that she wasn't upset or disgusted by him in the least, in fact, she seemed interested. Sasuke, of course, looked mortified at her desire to fondle the hybrids ears, despite having had the urge to do the same thing a week earlier. Naruto grinned, exposing his elongated teeth, and leaned forward for her.

Reaching up, Mikoto touched the leathery, furred skin hesitantly for a moment before smiling and scratching the object of her fascination. Naruto unintentionally lent into the touch, his eyes closing and a small rumble of pleasure leaving his lips, his toes bouncing in time with the rhythmic movement of her fingers. Mikoto giggled and pulled back her hand, charmed, leaving the ice officially broken.

"So, you aren't bothered that he's…?" Sasuke started, surprised at his mother's casual interaction with Naruto.

"A hybrid? Of course not, Sasuke. Remind me to introduce you to our handyman tomorrow – he maintains the three properties and gardens, especially yours and Itachi's holiday houses – in return for the caretaker's cabin at the back of our property, and he's a hybrid too," Mikoto said matter-of-factly.

Sasuke's eyebrows shot up and his eyes widened. "You and Dad _own_ a hybrid? Since when? And why haven't I heard about him?"

Mikoto rolled her eyes. "First of all, we don't '_own_' anyone; he's a hybrid we _hired_ to take care of the properties. He's been here for at least two years, and I don't know why you haven't heard of him; he was recommended to us by Itachi." She spotted the contemplative look on Sasuke's face and said quickly, "You're brother will be down soon, you can ask him then."

"Hn."

Footsteps started down the hallway and everyone looked at the door expectantly.

Naruto was surprised when a man who looked extremely like Sasuke arrived, the long hair tied in a ponytail at the nape of his neck his most noticeable difference from his younger sibling. The blonde had already deduced that this was Itachi, and this was confirmed when a frowning Sasuke muttered, "Speak of the devil and he shall appear."

Upon entering the room, a small smile adorned the elder Uchiha brother's face, and he quickly strode around the table pulling a still muttering Sasuke into a brief hug. "Hello, little brother," he said, his voice a little deeper than Sasuke's. "And…" he said, turning to face Naruto, who still stood beside Mikoto, "You must be Naruto." He held out a hand, the easy-going smile staying in place. "I've been looking forward to meeting you, though I must admit, I thought you would be bigger considering the fuss that arose at the Hyuga party."

Naruto shook his hand, his eyes darting over to look at Sasuke for any clues on how to treat Itachi. He was surprised by his first impression of the man, having expected someone much different after having listened to Sasuke complain about him all week. Placing his hand in Itachi's, he was about to say hello, but the slight breeze through the barely opened window blew Itachi's scent in his direction and stopped him in his tracks.

The three Uchihas flinched with surprise when Naruto unfroze and slipped into non-human mode, flashing forward faster than their minds could register to take a deep sniff at Itachi's neck before taking a step back to stand by Sasuke's side, Itachi's hand lingering in his grasp. "Nice to meet you…" he eventually responded when he noticed the confused silence around him, relinquishing his grip on the slim, elegant fingers.

Itachi gave him a knowing look, and turned back to the kitchen door he'd entered through. "I can't make it to dinner tonight as I've got a few errands to run as well as some international business calls to take, but you guys are welcome to visit me any time this weekend. And Sasuke, I haven't forgotten about that meeting you said you wanted to have. Tomorrow evening is good, if you're okay with that?"

"Sure," replied Sasuke, wondering what had passed between the blonde and his brother upon their meeting. Itachi grinned and was gone, disappearing back out the door without further discussion, leaving Naruto and Sasuke to have dinner with the latter's parents.

x-x-x-x-x

It was 1am by the time Sasuke slid between the clean sheets of the double bed and flicked the lamp off, sighing comfortably when Naruto's tail shifted to lie across his ankle. Dinner had gone relatively well, though his father had been uncomfortably silent sometimes; he was not as opened minded as Mikoto. As he didn't wish for unpleasantness with his sons, he instead maintained his silence choosing to keep his disapproval to himself. His mom and Naruto had gotten along as if they had known each other a lifetime, much to his relief, so while his dad had remained distant, Mikoto and Naruto made use of the time, trying to get better acquainted.

Nothing particularly eventful had happened at the dinner; instead, Sasuke's mind kept replaying the moment between Itachi and Naruto, which even now was making him shift restlessly beneath the sheets. For some reason, the memory of that moment, and the idea that they shared some secret, tightened his chest and made him feel irritated.

Naruto, who had been listening to what was fast becoming a comfortingly familiar sound – Sasuke's pre-bed routine of showering and completing a twenty minute series of Pilates stretches, followed quickly by falling into a solid sleep – could hear the shifts of Sasuke's body and breathing, and knew the other wasn't asleep yet. "Sasuke?" he said quietly to the darkness. For a moment there was silence, and Naruto wondered if Sasuke would pretend to be asleep.

"Hn?" grunted Sasuke, not sure whether or not he really felt like talking.

"What's the matter? You've been restless ever since we came back to your beach house…" Naruto's voice was tentative. "Did…did I embarrass you with your parents?" he said, finally voicing his greatest fear of the night, rushing on with, "I swear, I can do better next time. I won't embarrass you again."

"No! No, it's not that, Naruto. Not at all. My mom is just about ready to adopt you," he said, guilty for making the blonde man worry; sometimes it was easy to forget that the hybrid was seven years his junior and had far less life experience than the average person. "It's just…what was that moment between you and Itachi in the kitchen? Do you know each other from somewhere?" Sasuke worked hard to keep his tone neutral as plainly ridiculous thoughts of them going out together ran through his mind.

"Ah, that?" Naruto said, surprise in his tone. "That's what you're worried about? Geez, Sasuke. I was actually worried about screwing up with your parents and you were brooding over something that's no big deal." He smiled it the darkness before answering Sasuke's question. "Sasuke…Itachi reeks."

"Huh?" Sasuke responded stupidly, not anticipating the direction the conversation was taking.

"He's been doing the nasty with Kakashi," Naruto continued, his nose wrinkling. "I was pretty surprised to find a scent I recognised here, and judging by its strength…I'm guessing he's staying with Itachi while they visit your parents. And I think he knew that I knew and then he _knew_ that I knew that he knew that I knew. And then it was awkward." He waved a hand dismissively. "Irrelevant. I'd say he's been sleeping with-"

"Enough," said Sasuke, pinching his brow. "I don't want to know about Itachi's weird sex life. At all."

Naruto snaked a tentative arm over Sasuke's waist possessively. "Can I come to your meeting tomorrow?"

"Huh? Yeah, of course. You were invited anyway, since it effects you as w-well…" Sasuke yawned widely, his eyes watering a little. Now that he knew that Itachi hadn't been hitting on his boyfriend in the past he felt the overwhelming urge to sleep, that past few days having been extremely busy.

Naruto recognised the slight change in breathing pattern and grinned, remaining silent, sure that Sasuke would be soundly asleep within moment. Sure enough, two minutes later a light snore drifted from the dreaming man and Naruto shifted into a more comfortable position before following Sasuke into the land of nod.

x-x-x-x-x

The next day turned out to be better than Sasuke could ever have anticipated; in his head, he secretly thanked his mother for asking them to stay for the weekend. He hadn't realised just how much fun it would be to see Naruto trying all the things he'd never tried before. The childlike look of glee when they walked down to the beach was so pure that Sasuke found himself holding his breath as the blonde splashed through the waves, calling for Sasuke's attention every time he found something he wanted to show off.

The first time that Naruto had been dunked by the surf had been both hilarious and highly erotic. Sitting on a towel on the beach, umbrella up to prevent the sun from burning his fair skin, Sasuke watched through the dark lenses of his sun glasses as Naruto splashed about in the surf, moving out a bit deeper to where the waves were bigger.

Looking to the shore and catching Sasuke's eyes on him, Naruto called and waved, oblivious to the massive wave approaching him from behind. As the wave slammed into the blonde's back and he was dunked beneath the clear aqua water, Sasuke stood, panicked. Eyes scanning the water for any sign of the blond. Fifteen seconds of sheer terror passed before Sasuke caught sight of a shadow beneath the water in the shallows.

There was a sudden splash and an explosive gasp of air was drawn in.

Naruto stood, bronzed skin dripping with water that gleamed like oil in the sunlight, his head thrown back and his chest heaving as his sucked the oxygen into his lungs, his hair hanging in stringy blonde waves. As Sasuke's eyes travelled downwards, his mind had a moment to argue with itself about whether or not he should laugh or drool when he realised that the massive wave had ripped away Naruto's swimming trunks, leaving him stark naked in the in the bright light, showing off the all over tan, which must have come from time spent roaming around naked outdoors, Sasuke mused.

The decision of whether to laugh or drool was made for him when Naruto, unaware of Sasuke's eyes tracking his movement, gave a thorough shake to dry himself off. His hair and tail flicked droplets of water every which way, and powerful muscles shifted beneath the tanned skin, making Sasuke need to swallow.

Completely non self-conscious about his nudity, Naruto sprinted down the beach, coming to a halt in front of Sasuke.

"Did you see that! I was totally wiped out! I got _owned_ by that wave, Sasuke! WHAM! Hit me right in the back! I even lost my trunks! Did you notice? It's so awesome out there; I mean I learned to swim, of course – there is always a pool available for the water-type hybrids – but the ocean…man! They would love it! Do you know how to surf, Sasuke? I think it would be awesome to learn how, you know?" Naruto chattered away excitedly.

There was a tightening in Sasuke's chest which made him want to look away when he realised that this was the first time he'd probably ever seen Naruto so relaxed and…young. Always before he'd had an air of worldliness and lost innocence, the dry humoured attitude of someone who knows that there's an ugly side to life, and strives to keep living in spite of it. Biting the inside of his cheek and pushing the dark glasses higher on his nose to prevent Naruto from seeing his eyes, Sasuke forced himself to smirk and reply normally.

"Of course I know how to surf, though this time of day is not best for my skin type. I'll show you next time we come down here… By the way, did you happen to bring a second pair of shorts with you?"

"No," Naruto grinned. "I bet you did though. Mind if I borrow them 'til we get back and I can find another pair? I'll sew up the hole I make for my tail later on."

Sasuke said nothing, rummaging through the open bag he'd left beneath the umbrella until he found a pair of beige shorts which hit about mid-thigh. Naruto towelled himself dry, made a small tear in the shorts for his tail and pulled them on, grimacing.

"Why'd you have to be so skinny, Sasuke?" he complained as the material clung to his skin. Had the shorts been any smaller, they wouldn't have fit. Naruto leaned over to gather his stuff, saying, "Want to head back and have lunch?"

Sasuke bit his lip and cursed. Was it sexy to see those shorts moulding to the fox's ass? Or was it just plain torture? Sighing and figuring he should just get used to the near constant state of arousal Naruto inspired, he turned and picked up his own beach gear, trying to tune back into what the fox was telling him about jellyfish – jellyfish? – hybrids.

x-x-x-x-x

As sunset finally approached, the end of his day alone with Naruto came to a close. Picking up his briefcase, he brought out the assorted documents he'd been collecting over the week. He changed into a pair of faded blue denim jeans (and Naruto had exclaimed, "You actually own something old?") and red polo, sliding on the currently fashionable black framed glasses he normally used for reading, anticipating he'd need them for his meeting with Itachi.

Naruto entered the room in a new pair of orange board shorts – which, Sasuke noted, he had not bought for Naruto – and dark grey t-shirt. Naruto looked Sasuke over, admiring the way the raven haired man looked in the glasses.

Sasuke sighed, wishing he'd postponed the visit to Itachi for another day, but it wasn't worth arguing about with the stubborn man who loved to push his buttons. Easier just to go with it. Glancing out the window, he decided that it was close enough to evening to head over, though he knew it would irritate the crap out of Itachi that they arrived early.

On the ten minute walk between their houses, Naruto spent the entire way scenting the air and pointing out the camouflaged animals to Sasuke. They soon arrived at a large two story cabin, causing Naruto to go quiet as he still wasn't sure what to make of the older Uchiha sibling.

Sasuke rapped on the door sharply with his knuckles, glancing at his watch, eyes flicking to the garage to be sure Itachi's car was there. "For god's sake," he muttered in annoyance, knocking on the door more impatiently. After five minutes of waiting, Sasuke gave up on polite behaviour and gave the handle a twist, satisfied when the door opened with no resistance.

Beckoning to an uneasy Naruto, he said quietly, "Let's just go sit in the living room and wait for him. He'll come downstairs eventually." Naruto went to say something, and Sasuke silenced him with a gesture, heading towards the living room.

Flopping down onto a plush mauve lounge chair, Sasuke admired the changes Itachi had made to the space. The wall between the living room and the formal dining room had been knocked down, instead making room for a pool table at the back. The small sliding door leading to the kitchen and informal dining room had been expanded and replace with the two-way swinging doors often found in restaurants, complete with windows to make sure you didn't crash into people on the other side.

Naruto shifted uncomfortably, again trying to say something, but the sound of something metal falling to the floor came from the kitchen area, and Sasuke stood in a rush. Naruto followed as Sasuke snuck over to the swinging door to peer through the window. His body stiffened, and Naruto gave an almost imperceptible sigh, able to guess what Sasuke was seeing.

Sasuke felt Naruto approach him to gaze into the kitchen over his shoulder but was too preoccupied with the scene before him to tell Naruto not to look, unable to look away himself.

Itachi was bent over the dining table naked, a black leather belt binding his wrists together tightly and a firm hand on the back of his neck pushing him forward and down, preventing him from regaining his balance as his toes just barely touched the ground. It was obvious that they had been there a while, Itachi's clothes strewn around the room and an opened tube of lubricant on the table. The hard edge of wooden table bit into his hips, and he wriggled slightly, trying to ease the pressure and find a more comfortable position.

The owner of the hand had greyish white hair, broad shoulders and a pure white tail that matched the pointed ears atop his head. It took a moment for Sasuke to realise that it was the same arctic wolf, Kakashi, that was at the Half-Party at Tsunade's with Naruto. Kakashi donned a black tank top and a pair of forest green cargo pants.

The fly of his pants was undone and his clear, deep voice carried easily through the doors to where Sasuke and Naruto stood.

The hand on the nape of Itachi's neck slid upwards to caress the silky black hair, no longer bound by a hair tie. Suddenly, he wound the hair around his hand and jerked Itachi's head back enough to make him cry out. "Itachi," the wolf rumbled, grinding his hips against the pale Uchiha's ass possessively. "Tell me. I won't move if you don't say it…not one brush, not one stroke…not even a one breath." To demonstrate, he leaned down and let the heat of his breath trickle across Itachi's cheek, causing a visible tremble to run through the clearly aroused man.

"Kakashi!" Itachi panted, the name almost a plea, his hips pressing back as if to try and tempt the wolf into going back on his word.

"Uh, uh, uh. Naughty, pet," Kakashi grinned delivering a stinging slap to Itachi's right ass cheek, the exposed flesh flushing a heated red. Kakashi let his fingertips trail over the smooth, warm flesh. Drawing a breathy moan from Itachi, who was still unable to move with Kakashi's fingers tangled in his hair. "Saaay it, sweet pet, and you know you'll feel satisfied."

"Fuck me," Itachi whispered, licking his lips in anticipation, loving every sweet, agonising, drawn out moment.

"Louder," Kakashi demanded, positioning the head of his erect member at Itachi's opening and teasingly pressing forward without enough pressure to accomplish anything.

Itachi groaned, the sound filled with a desperate frustration and desire. His voice started as a whisper and grew to a hoarse shout. "Please…please, fuck me, please, 'Kashi, please…pound me, fuck me, _use me, damn it_!"

With a satisfied smile, Kakashi shoved his hips forward, his mismatched eyes fluttering as he was embraced by the tight heat of Itachi, who was writhing beneath him. Rhythmically rolling his hips, he drew moan after moan out of Itachi, whose eyelashes were wet with tears of pleasure. With his free hand, he slid a hand around Itachi's body to grip the hard, weeping organ tightly and began to stroke in time with his thrusts.

Itachi's moans became more disjointed as Kakashi drove him to the edge of the pleasurable abyss. Removing his hand from Itachi's hair, Kakashi leaned forward and whispered something into the pleasure filled man's ear. Itachi's head flicked around and his eyes lit upon Sasuke in the window. Instead of the horror Sasuke would have expected his brother to show, Itachi let out a long moan and threw his head back, apparently tightening around Kakashi. The idea of an audience watching him hit his exhibitionistic streak in exactly the right way, and he lost himself in the ecstasy of the moment, shuddering beneath the wolf as he was hit by wave after wave of an intense pleasure.

He slumped forward against the table, utterly spent, and Sasuke watched on as Kakashi gently withdrew before removing the belt from Itachi's wrists and effortlessly lifted the pale man, who was still completely lost to the intense mental euphoria of his climax. Turning to the kitchen door, he gave a small smile to Naruto and Sasuke before murmuring, "He'll be down in around an hour. Needless to say, we weren't expecting you until later."

As he carried Itachi upstairs, Sasuke stood with an open mouth. He was both shocked and intensely turned on. When Naruto tried to slip a hand around his shoulders, he jerked away, regretting it the instant the hurt registered in Naruto's eyes.

"Did you see… I mean, he hit my brother! Did you just see what I saw? What did I just see? And why the hell am I turned on after watching my own brother?" said Sasuke, clearly a little overwhelmed by the situation.

Naruto made soothing shushing noises, his own hurt had dissolved the moment he'd realised that Sasuke wasn't freaking out about being touched by a hybrid, he was freaking out about being turned on by watching his brother with another man.

"Sasuke… Oi, Sasuke!" Naruto's voice became loud and demanding, and Sasuke stopped muttering and focused on the fox. "Stop being a twit. I tried to warn you before we came in and you wouldn't listen, so now you just have to deal. First of all, I'm pretty sure it's normal to feel turned on after watching something as fucking hot as that, brother or not. Second of all, you saw consensual sex between two adults who clearly enjoyed it. A lot of hybrid relationships are like that, depending on the type of animal and how dominant or submissive they need to be to reproduce – in the wild, a lioness won't allow the male to touch her unless he proves himself strong enough; hell, you've experienced it with me – you know I like to bite and be bitten. So. No freaking out."

Sasuke gave himself a mental shake and took a breath. He knew that everything Naruto had just said was true and he began to calm himself. Finally, when he felt he regained all his senses, he looked at Naruto with pink stained cheeks, saying, "That was…incredible." This time he didn't flinch when Naruto's arm draped around his shoulders, pulling him close to share a kiss, his breath coming shakily. "I, uh, I think we should go back to my place for an hour because…I don't think I can sit in front of my big brother like this…even if he doesn't care."

Naruto grinned. "Hey, who am I to say no to a good idea."

x-x-x-x-x

Sitting in Itachi's living room, Sasuke was annoyed by the smirk on Itachi's face.

"Ah, my little brother, the voyeur," he grinned, continuing as though Sasuke hadn't told him to shut up at least fifty times in the past ten minutes. "Do you wish it was you bent over the—"

"Shut up," Sasuke said with a glare. "Not a word more, Itachi, or I swear—"

"Ooo…you'll spank me?" Itachi interrupted mischievously. "'Cause, you now know that I won't object."

"Shut. The. Fuck. Up!" said Sasuke furiously, as even the tips of his ears went red while he forced himself not to look at Kakashi, who was beside Itachi, or Naruto, who beside him. "God, you're never embarrassed by anything! Anyone else would be avoiding their brother after this and yet you sit here without a problem, knowing I just watched you get screwed by a guy you only met a week ago!"

"Uh, pot calling kettle black, don't you think?" Itachi scoffed. "And anyway, I've known Kakashi for a lot longer than a week. Seven years, in fact. You remember the shark hybrid with the incredible pe—" he broke off at Sasuke's glare before continuing, "The, er, shark hybrid I tried to tell you about? Well, he introduced me to Kakashi way back then, while Kakashi was with his old owner. That owner didn't mind Kakashi dating, since for the most part 'Kashi was acting in the capacity of a live in butler and bodyguard." He looked sad for a moment, before his face resumed its matter-of-fact expression. "I lost track of him after he was traded for another hybrid before being bought by the Akatsuki."

Sasuke remained silent, never imagining that his brother, who always seemed to be in the middle of a casual fling and who loved to tease him to the point of distraction could have been hiding something like this from everyone for so long.

Neither brother was particularly good at getting over emotional, so Sasuke brought the topic back to something they were both comfortable with: business.

"Actually, what I wanted to talk to you about today is regarding the hybrids and their current situation," he said as he pulled out a manila folder and handed it to Itachi, who had instantly looked interested. "I know it's ridiculous to even contemplate trying to start a hybrid revolution…but change starts small, and I realised the other day when I tried to open a bank account for Naruto how complicated it is to be a hybrid, especially if you want to become independent."

"Mm," agreed Itachi as he perused the documents in the folder. "So what were you thinking and what does it have to do with ACE?" Both Kakashi and Naruto listened in on the exchange with interest.

"Well. I was thinking…we start a hybrid sector at ACE. We can employ some hybrids at the call centre and in other administrative positions as well as starting up an exclusive hybrid team, which would basically be like our normal teams but clients would be paying for the exotic experience of a high-class, fully hybrid staffed catering event – and believe me, people are willing to pay.

Now, I'm not simply suggesting this as a way to make money, but if the company _bought_ the hybrids – rather than a single person – the company would be able to open bank accounts accessible only by the hybrids themselves under their own name. We would be able to educate them with practical skills, such as getting a licence and so on, and we would be able to pay them so that they can make their own way in life without being owned." Sasuke's voice was filled with determination, and Naruto and Kakashi let a tentative beacon of hope switch on.

"Okay, so where would get these hypothetical hybrids and what would you do if they didn't want to work for ACE?" Itachi asked, pleased by the idea but not willing to back it until he was sure it would work.

"Well, for one thing, I think Tsunade would like in on this plan. I mean, she's got a house sponsored by someone who wants more for the hybrids than what they've got." Sasuke realised that Itachi's ears were turning pink, and all of a sudden another piece of the puzzle fell into place. "You're the one that financially supports Tsunade, aren't you?"

"You finally figured that one out, huh?" he said with a smile that was just this side of a smirk.

"Well, I guess it makes sense, in light of what you told me before… Anyway, in the case of hybrids who don't want to stay, we convince them to take a twelve month contract with us. A couple of months ago, a hybrid that had been bought as a companion for an older gentleman won a court case after he passed away and willed her all his worldly possessions as well as her freedom. The courts couldn't force the bank to open accounts in her name, but she was granted full access and control over his accounts as well as the right to live out the rest of her life without an owner." Sasuke shrugged. "I think we would have grounds to work out a similar set up."

Itachi looked immensely pleased. "This is…a sound plan. I think it will work, I really do." Standing, he offered his brother his hand. "Let's make it happen."

Sasuke shook, feeling pleased. It wasn't often that he came up with an idea for the company that Itachi hadn't already come up with and put into action. Damn, this was good.

x-x-x-x-x

Three months had passed since that night, and their plan had gone into action. It hadn't been without its problems, but they were now finally getting somewhere. Naruto was heading one of the new hybrid teams and many of Tsunade's hybrids had joined ACE eager for the ability to become independent.

Hearing a knock, Sasuke looked up security feed that was monitoring the party happening in the ballroom. Shino entered, alerting him to a breach of security in the gardens that might need the input of his superior. Nodding and taking Shino's concise notes about the subject, Sasuke went back to monitoring the camera.

A sudden movement on screen two drew his attention, as did the following crash of glass shattering. When he found the problem on the monitor, he was surprised to see Naruto standing at the edge of ballroom, shattered glasses and silver serving tray on the floor, his phone to his ear. Flipping open his own cell phone, he rang through on the number three speed dial to Hinata, who although shy, had turned out to be a very popular addition to the ACE Hybrid sector.

"Hinata, can you get over to section four and take over for Naruto? I'll have someone clean up the spill before you get there," he said, as he used the monitors to find the nearest ACE staff member who was on cleaning duty.

"Y-yes, Mr Uchiha, sir," said Hinata softly, and he could hear her gently breaking away from the group of party-goers she was with.

"Thanks." He hung up and hit his number four speed dial, promptly instructing the staff where the problem was. Within thirty seconds, the mess from the floor was gone, Hinata was chatting amiable with the guests while serving the next round of drinks and Naruto had been whisked up to the control room.

When Naruto walked in, still looking surprised, Sasuke could see that his fingers were shaking. Placing his hands on the fox's shoulders, concern in his voice, he said, "What's wrong, Naruto? Are you alright?"

Naruto dug the cell phone back out of his pocket. "Tsunade just called…she thinks that they might have located Gaara in a group of hybrids hiding in a warehouse in a city a few hours from here. She…she said she'll call back in a few minutes, when she knows for sure. They don't know the state of the hybrids yet…"

Anxiety flickered across his face and his ears lowered. A few times now, Naruto and Tsunade had been called out on report of hybrids hiding in a warehouse, only to find that they had accidentally been locked into their hiding places, for weeks at a time. Trapped without food or water, the poor hybrids had died while trying to find freedom and it left Naruto and Tsunade as a cleanup crew instead of the rescue team they tried to be.

When the cell phone rang, it seemed to cut through the hush of the control room, muffled music drifting through the closed door, and Naruto froze, his eyes on Sasuke. Sasuke gave his shoulders a squeeze.

"Answer it!" he urged.

The button beeped as he accepted the call. "H-Hello?"

Sasuke held his breath, straining to hear the other side of the conversation as Naruto made slight noises of agreement. When Naruto snapped the phone shut he stared silently at Sasuke until Sasuke couldn't wait any longer.

"Well?"

A tear tracked down Naruto's cheek, and Sasuke cringed knowing that this would be another shattering blow to Naruto's hopes.

"They found him," he whispered, disbelief colouring his voice. Sasuke did a double take at that and his heart jumped. "They actually found him! The whole group are apparently malnourished and in poor health, but…he's there! Alive!" Naruto's tail whipped back and forth as its owner cried out joyfully, "He's there, Sasuke! For real! Shit, I need to call Kiba and the others!" He flung his arms around Sasuke's shoulders, his body emitting a fine tremble as the adrenaline surged through him.

Sasuke dialled through to the basement level staff room, asking for three replacements to be sent up while Naruto called Kiba, Ino and Hinata to the control room so that he could share the good news.

Naruto turned to Sasuke, who was still standing by the monitor. "Sasuke… I-I don't know how I could ever fully thank you. Though it will never be enough, I just want to say…thank you, Sasuke. Since I met you, my life has changed more than I ever thought possible. If you had asked me a year ago where I would be now…the answer would probably have been dead, either at the hands of another hybrid or because I'd attacked Kabuto. From the first moment I smelled you, you've been changing my life." He leaned forward, breathing in the scent that had wormed its way so unexpectedly into his hear, and rubbed his cheek against Sasuke's.

The door opened behind them and Naruto gave him a quick swipe of the tongue across the cheek and a smile, before he went to talk to his friends.

No, Naruto, he thought, it's my life that's changed since meeting you. I didn't realise until you came into my life that I was just going through the motions; now, I'm living. Sasuke felt his cheeks go red as he watched the hybrids talk, wishing they'd had a few more moments of privacy so he could have expressed his thoughts to Naruto. A small smile crept over his lips though, because, he reminded himself, he had tonight, and tomorrow, and the next night, and every night after that to show the blonde fox how important he was. And that was just what he would do.

_-end-_

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A/N:

Hi guys ^_^

So this is the final part to Scent Of My Heart, and I must thank you for hanging around for so long (almost 5 months!) to read it. I found this really hard to write, and it took an incredible amount of time to finish, so though I'm not making you any guarantees, _if_ I choose to write any more fics in the SOMH world, they will be shorter than these 13 word chapters and will be posted as oneshots (though for your convenience, I will post them titled as "Scent Of My Heart: Subtitle Here" (eg Scent Of My Heart: Hells Bells On Wheels).

I'd like to that you for all the comments and faves, it's been really great and it's always nice to know people actually like what you write. I really hope you enjoyed the final part of SOMH! I hope the KakaIta scene wasn't too horrible T_T

As always, happy reading, guys.

~dusk. xo


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